Just One Night
by bonescastlerock
Summary: Set post LA, the end of season 3 nowhere in sight Very AU. What can the events of a single alcohol filled night lead to? Something big? On the contrary it could lead to something very small indeed...
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **This is set after the episode in LA (3x22) and has spoilers for that ep and potentially spoilers for any other ep before that. It will not delve into the last two episodes, Alexis is not applying for early entry to collage, and Montgomery is still with us and it is not know that he was the 3rd cop. Also for this to make sense, LA happened in late May, that will be important later and will be reminded off when it becomes so.

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 1**

Kate Beckett sat on her closed toilet seat staring at the little chunk of plastic in her hand. This couldn't be right. The two little blue lines must be lying. But the two already discarded ones only proved her wrong. She was pregnant. And she knew who's it was.

Castle.

As she sat there she pondered the night, only six weeks ago that this had happened.

_When she had come home from LA earlier that week Josh was livid that she had shared a hotel suit with Castle and the argument had continued for over two weeks in the small amounts of time they had spent together. Josh was convinced that something had happened between them, and as much as Kate had tried to tell him otherwise, he wouldn't believe her. There was yelling, there was screaming, and there was Kate storming out of his apartment for the last time in overly hurried fit of rage._

_It was only as she got outside Josh's apartment building that she realised that there was only one place she could go. Lanie was out of town with Esposito, and other than her the only person she could talk to about this was Castle. Just as she stepped out from under the awning of Josh's building the heavens opened and she was immediately soaked to the bone. Thankfully there was a cab there, as if waiting for her. She got in and gave Castle's address._

By this time she had moved out into the kitchen gotten herself a glass of water. She had almost poured herself a glass of wine when she realised she shouldn't drink it. She sat and the memories started again.

_Fifteen minutes later when the cab got to Castle's apartment building it was still pouring with rain, so by the time she got into the lobby she was soaked. When she got to his door, he was standing there with a towel, as if waiting for her. _Dam_, she thought, _the doorman must have called up_._

"_Kate?" He asked holding up the towel, and she flung herself in his arms._

_The next thing she knew she was on the couch, crying into his shoulder. She figures she must have told him what had happened because as soon as she lifted her head he handed her a glass of very strong scotch. He had one of his own, and after they both downed them, he filled them. She vaguely noted that there was a movie on in the background, but didn't care what it was._

_The bottle of scotch was half empty, when had that happened? When she first saw it, it was practically full. Before she knew it the bottle was only a quarter full and Castle gently pried the glass out of her hand and sat it on the table, and she was cuddled into his chest._

_He was running his hands through her hair, just that simple gesture had her moaning and her moan had a significant effect on him as well. _

_All of a sudden she was no longer laying her head on his chest, but kissing him. A kiss full of passion, full of lust. He moaned and she took the opportunity to explore his mouth with her tongue. _

_When she felt his hands on her skin under her shirt, she just had to ask, "Alexis? Your Mother?"_

"_In the Hamptons for the weekend." At his response she lifted her arms so he could pull her top off, then started unbuttoning his shirt._

After that her memory only came in bits and pieces.

_His hard length in her hand. His mouth running up her leg, getting closer. Him buried as far as he could go inside her. And how exquisite it felt. _

She sat on her couch wondering how this has happened, she was always careful. She always made sure her partner wore a condom. She couldn't take the pill as every time she had tried it just made her way crankier than anyone could handle. So she always made sure.

_She rolled a condom over his hard length while they were on the couch. But after that…._

_The stairs. Him entering her again and again, so hard, so fast. From behind._

_His bedroom door. Because he couldn't wait any longer._

_And His bed. His huge, wonderful bed._

_She was sure there was a shower in there somewhere_.

She sat on the couch with her phone in her hand, deciding if she should call him, when her next full memory came back. The next morning.

_She woke sprawled on top of him while he was still asleep. She attempted to move, but his arms tightened around her, holding her in place. He opened his eyes and stared at her, as if he didn't quite understand what he was seeing. He moved one hand from her back to the back of her head to pull her in for a kiss. Slow and languid. _

_That is until she felt him start to twitch under her and she was overwhelmed by her own desire and speeded up the kiss. Putting a bit of fire and passion behind it. She ran her hand down his side and stroked his shaft. Once. Twice was all it took to have him standing at attention. So she removed her hand and impaled herself on him._

_They both let out a cry, then moans of pleasure as she started to move atop him. And as she started to move, so did he, his hands on her hips. He moved below her at the same speed, he moved one of his hands to her most sensitive area, and she shatters around him and he followed her almost immediately. _

_She moved in for one last kiss, and found him almost asleep already. So she carefully climbed out of his bed, wrapped herself in his robe, and went to find her clothes from the night before. She dressed and left before she could talk herself out of it._

She needed to tell someone, but who? She couldn't tell Castle, not yet anyway, he didn't seem to remember much of that night either, other than the fact that she had broken up with Josh.

Kate decided that the person she could tell was Lanie. She would, after being excited, be able to help her out. Her phone was still in her hand, so she sent Lanie a text.

**Need girl talk.**

Almost instantly she received a reply.

**I'll be there in 20. Ice-cream and wine are not optional.**

She sighed in defeat, she would have to tell Lanie as soon as got there, otherwise she would figure it out. Then again maybe that was a better option.

**Fine. Be quick.**

It was less than 20 minutes later that Lanie showed. She walked through the door with a pint of double chocolate ice-cream and two bottles of red wine and headed straight for the kitchen to grab some glasses.

Kate realised she best talk now, before Lanie poured the wine. "Um, Lanie." She started as Lanie corked the wine bottle. "None for me, not tonight."

"What?" Lanie says in an incredulous voice. "You call me over here for girl talk and you don't want wine. There can only be one reason." Lanie paused for the dramatic effect. "You're pregnant." She accused. Kate didn't say a word, just stared at her feet. "You are. Whose is it?" It's like Lanie is having a one sided conversation. "Josh?" Kate barely moves, just rolls her eyes. "Ok, not Josh." Lanie pretends to ponder the other choices. "Writer-Boy?" Kate stares at her feet. "Ok girl. Spill. What the hell happened? And why aren't I finding out about this until now?"

Kate sighs and walks out of her kitchen to sit on the couch yet again. Lanie follows with the ice-cream and two spoons, leaving the bottle of wine behind.

"Well," Kate started. "You know Josh and I broke up about six weeks ago."

"Yeah, you told me all the gory details of that, so stop stalling." Lanie almost commanded.

"Well, since you were out of town and I didn't want to go back to an empty apartment, I went to see Castle." Kate paused briefly. "And long story short, we got very drunk, his family wasn't home, so you can figure out what happened…." She trailed off.

"Does he know?" Lanie asked.

"No. He doesn't even seem to remember what happened. I myself only have vague memories." She answered.

"But… How?" Lanie stuttered. "I thought you were always careful, so this didn't happen."

"Well, the first time-" was all she got out.

"The FIRST time?" Lanie squealed. "How many were there?"

"Umm…."

"You don't remember?" Lanie asked, astounded. "It must have been good."

"Lanie! I was drunk, so was he. And in answer to your question, I was careful the first time, but after that, I really don't remember much, except that there was many, many times." _And that it felt amazing,_ Kate added in her head while staring into space.

"Hello, Earth to Kate." Lanie said while waving her hand in front of her face.

"Sorry. What?" Kate replied. "I was a little spaced out there."

"Yeah I got that." Was Lanie's reply. "I asked when are you gonna tell him?"

_Oh shit. _Did she really have to do that?

**AN2: **Please let me know what you think.I have the next eight or so chapters of this already written, so reviews pending I will pot one or two a week.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **This author is more than slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of emails she woke up to this morning, sorry I haven't replied to reviews personally, but I haven't got time, as I have to leave my house very soon. So, by popular demand (please note that it wont always work) here is the second chapter. I'll try to reply to reviews tonight, but to all of you out there that did, I appreciate your love and criticism. :D

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 2**

When Castle walked into the 12th the following Monday with two cups of coffee he was surprised not to see Beckett there. It was after noon, and he had only just come in because he'd had a horrible meeting with Paula that morning. He stopped at Esposito's desk to see if he could find out where she was.

"She took a personal day." Was all the response he got when he asked. _So she isn't here,_ he thought. Regardless he went and sat in 'his' chair by her desk. He was about to open his angry birds app when he got a message from her.

**Need to talk to you. Dinner?**

He replied instantly.

**Sure. My place, 7?**

It was about ten minutes later when he got a reply.

**Needs to be alone, wouldn't want to kick your family out.**

That would be easy to overcome.

**Alexis and Mother are both out tonight. So dinner at my place. 7.**

Merely seconds later his phone tingled again.

**Sure. C U then.**

He promptly got up, rushed past Ryan and Esposito, who looked questioningly at him, and left.

-!-!-!-

Kate had taken the morning off, as she had to go see a doctor. She had ask Lanie the other night if she could run a test for her just to make sure, surely she had the equipment to do that, but she refused. So she had to go to an OBGYN, and Lanie had given her the name of one the other night, one of her friends from medical school.

_Lanie had managed to book her in for a nine a.m. appointment with her friend, a Dr Rachel Witherby. So there she was, sitting in the waiting room, just before nine, too nervous to even read one of the magazines on the table._

"_Ms Kate Beckett, the doctor will see you now." The nurse told her and led her to a room. She had barely sat down when the doctor entered. She was short, with stark blond hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. She was slightly on the plump side, without being overweight, and she was very friendly._

"_Hi," she said, extending her hand, which Kate shook. "I'm Dr Witherby, but call me Rachel. Lanie told me to be expecting you, but she didn't say exactly why." She finished coyly. _

"_Well," Kate just looked at her hands, she didn't know how to tell this to a stranger. "I think I'm pregnant."_

"_That's generally what I'm for." The good doctor joked and without a smile from Kate she continued. "Right. So, I'll do a test to confirm, and then do and ultrasound to find out how far along you are."_

She was sitting there looking at the prints that the doctor had given her. That little blob of a thing was her baby. Her and Castle's baby. She still didn't know what she was going to tell him.

Did he remember what had happened that night? Because if he did he didn't say anything about it. What was this going to do to their partnership, their friendship? Was he going to want more from their relationship? Did she want more?

She didn't want him to feel like her rebound, _but that's how this whole mess started wasn't it?_

Kate was confused, but didn't have much time to think on it as she had agreed to dinner at his loft and after looking at her watch realised that she had only fifteen minutes to get there. She put the prints in her bag, grabbed her jacket and headed out.

-!-!-!-

Kate stood outside the door to Castle's loft and looked at her father's watch as the second hand ticked over to 7, she touched her mother's ring for a little of her courage, then knocked on the door. Kate always knocked on his door; she thought his doorbell didn't have a demanding enough sound for the announcement of her presence.

Castle opened the door, invited her in, took her jacket and led her to the table where dinner was sitting there waiting for her. Pasta with a creamy white sauce, and a glass of red wine. Kate sat on the chair that Castle pulled out for her. _Always the gentleman_, she thought. Castle sat and held his wine glass up to her. She picked up her glass of water; if he noticed he didn't say anything.

They ate in silence, Castle not wanting to push her, Kate trying to figure out the best way to bring it up. They finished their dinner and Castle collected her plate and she watched as he stood at the island in his kitchen and put together chocolate ice-cream sundaes. He added a cherry to each one and picked them both up and motioned for Kate to follow him to the couch.

When Kate was seated on the couch he handed over her sundae, and still they ate in silence. When she was finished Castle took the bowl out of her hand and placed both bowls on the coffee table.

"You said that you needed to talk to me…" He started once he was sitting back down.

"Uh, yeah. Just hand on a sec." She got up and retrieved her bag from the hook by the door. Once sitting on the couch she started. "How much do you remember about the night I came here after I broke up with Josh?" She asked him.

"We've had this discussion." Castle said.

"Humour me." Kate shot back.

"Ok. Well I remember getting a call from down stairs that you had barrelled through, soaking wet, and I went to meet you at my door with a towel. You flung yourself into my arms and started crying." He paused for a breath. "You told me that you had broken up with Josh because he didn't like that we had stayed in the same hotel suit in LA, and then I broke out the heavy scotch."

"Anything else?" Kate questioned him.

"No. I assume I called you a cab. I had a massive hangover the next day when I awoke, not surprising when I saw the little amount of scotch that was left in the bottle." He stopped, and his expression changed to that one he gets when he's stuck for what to write in one of his books. "I also had some pretty amazing dreams that night." He wasn't going to continue until he saw her expectant face. "About you."

"They weren't dreams Castle." She replied in such a quiet voice he wasn't sure he had heard properly.

"What?" He questioned.

"They weren't dreams." She repeated. "It was real. All of it."

"How do you know?" Castle asked her.

"Because I'm pregnant as a result." She looked at him and he had a dazed look in his eye. "The child is yours, Castle."

A myriad of emotions ran across his face. The foremost being elation and confusion. Confusion won out. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I only just found out for sure this morning, that was the appointment I was at today." She dug her hand into her bag and pulled out the black and white shots from the OBGYN and handed them to him.

He just stared at them, elation showing on his face again. "Why did you decide to tell me now?"

"Because it's your child as well, but if you don't want to be a part of this then," she stood up, "I'll just leave."

"Beckett." Castle said. She wouldn't look at him. He tried again. "Kate," he placed his hand on her arm. "Of Course I want to be a part of this. I was just a bit shocked. That's all."

His words, the use of her first name, turned Kate to mush and she sank down, not onto the couch, but onto his lap. She just needed to be held, and hold her he did.

An hour later Castle heard a key turning in the lock and he quickly hid the small black and white photos that he had been staring at. He didn't need his mother or Alexis seeing them before he had a chance to talk to Kate about it.

-!-!-!-

The door opened and Alexis entered and started walking towards the stairs until she noticed her father sitting on the couch, with a sleeping Detective Beckett on his lap. She stopped and looked at her father with a questioning eyebrow.

"Had a long day." Castle answered her unasked question about the detective.

Alexis smiled, shook her head sadly and continued on the way to her room. She had seen her father and his lady detective together many times, but never had she fallen asleep on his lap. Alexis wondered when those two would see what everyone else could see. What was right in front of them.

-!-!-!-

It was some time after Alexis had come home that Castle realised that he needed to get Kate, and himself, into bed. He looked down at her and she looked so peaceful that he didn't want to wake her so he stood and carried her into the guest room. He laid her in the bed, pulled off her shoes and covered her with the comforter. He made his way back out to the hallway and stopped at the door to look back. He smiled as she snuggled into the bed and relaxed.

He slowly made his way down the hallway and into his room to get himself ready for bed. He was defiantly in for a long night; what with finding out about Kate, and with her being in the room right next to his. He was in for a sleepless night.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **this author again has many thanks to those that have read, story alert-ed, and or review. It makes her very happy!

This author is also unsure how she feels about this chapter, but her critique told her it was really good, so here you go.

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 3**

Kate awoke the following morning cocooned in warmth and snuggled deep in an extremely comfortable bed that felt vaguely familiar, but which she knew was not her own. She sat, but her brain seemed to pulse inside her head, so she sank back down into the pillow. She was confused so she started to run through her memory of the previous night.

She was at Castle's loft. They had dinner, then they sat on the couch and she told him about the baby. _The Baby_. How could have that fact temporarily evaded her? After telling him she just kind of collapsed into his arm. _Wait. _Kate thought. _Did we..?_

Her confusion only slightly lessened, she rose to sitting, slower this time, and took in the room around her. She recognised where she was. It was the guest room at Castle's loft. The last time she'd been there was over a year prior when her apartment had been blown up, but she had taken in every detail that she could, and she did the same now.

Kate got out of the bed and realised that she was still in her clothes from the night before, _so he was a gentleman last night_. She wondered around the guest room and noticed that nothing had changed, not even the bedspread. Kate was poking around on the dresser when there was a knock on the door.

"Detective Beckett?" Came the voice of Little Castle from the other side of the door.

"Come in Alexis." Kate responded absentmindedly. "And how many times have I told you to call me Kate?"

"As many times as I've told you I won't unless you start dating my dad." Alexis remarked in jest, like always, as she stepped inside the guest room and saw a startled looking Kate.

"Detective Beckett I'm kidding, like always." Alexis said and saw her relax ever so slightly.

"Alexis." Kate started, but was unsure how to continue. She didn't want to say anything if her father hadn't told her yet.

"Yes?" Alexis responded to try and encourage her to continue.

"Um… How much did your father tell you about why I was here last night?" Kate questioned.

"Well… when I came home you were asleep on the couch," Alexis started carefully, she was aware there was something going on that Detective Beckett wasn't telling her, so she kept it simple. "And dad just told me that you'd had a long day. I just figured you'd had a tough case so dad offered to cook you dinner. Then dad asked me to come and see if you were up because he has breakfast ready. So that's why I'm here. Breakfast is ready."

As if on cue voice resonated from the kitchen. "Alexis? Kate? Breakfast is ready." Came the voice of Castle and Kate saw the slight surprise in Alexis' eye as she turned towards the door and headed out.

-!-!-!-

Kate entered the kitchen about five minutes later, having made herself as presentable as possible in clothes she had slept in all night. She made her way to the counter, sat and was presented with a plate of bacon and eggs. Castle then came around behind her and placed a mug of coffee in front of her, speaking only one word quiet enough that his daughter wouldn't hear it.

"Decaf." And suddenly everything came rushing back to Kate again. They still had to talk about that. They still had to figure out what was going to happen between them. Was _anything_ going to happen between them? Kate still wasn't sure what she wanted. Well at that point in time with Castle standing that close, and his breath still on her ear she did know what she wanted, but they had a few things to figure out before that….

"Thanks." She mumbled in response and took a sip of her decaf coffee. _Yuck_, Kate had never seen the use of coffee without caffeine, it just seemed kind of pointless to her. But still she drank her coffee and ate her breakfast and didn't even notice that Alexis had left. She was about to start making her own excuses when a wave of nausea over took her and she ran for the nearest bathroom, which happened to be inside Castle's room.

Castle stood in the kitchen in shock as Kate ran out, then suddenly realised what was wrong. He wondered how he could have been so daft as he followed Kate through his room and into his bathroom where he found her emptying the contents of her stomach into his toilet.

He knelt down next to her and pulled her hair back from her face with one hand and gently rubbed her back with the other, in a way he only had with Alexis when she was little.

After a little while Kate move back and leaned into Castle's chest and looked up at him. "I really should get going. I need to head home before I go to work."

"You're sick." Castle responded. "You shouldn't be going to work."

"It's just morning sickness, doctor said to expect it." Kate told him. "Surely you've been through this before, you do have a daughter."

"Actually, no." Castle said and noticed Kate's confused look so kept going. "Meredith never suffered morning sickness."

"I really do need to get going." Kate told him and started to get up from the floor and swayed slightly, so she sat down again.

Castle, seeing this happen, stood and offered her a hand up, which she accepted gratefully.

"If you're so insistent on going, at least let me come with you to make sure you're ok." Castle pleaded.

"No." Kate said, probably a little to harshly. "But if you have some water I could take with me…." She trailed off as they were headed out to the kitchen.

Castle grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and walked her to his front door. "See you at the precinct?" He really wasn't sure if she wanted him there.

"Of course, but come in a little later, I need to talk to the Capitan about…" she trailed off, as she wasn't sure how to define them.

"Sure." He replied. "I'll see you around ten." He said and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, which she responded to in kind. She then stepped forward and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"Take me out for dinner tonight?" She asked shyly. "We still need to talk about this." And before he knew what was happening she was out the door and heading towards the lift.

-!-!-!-

Kate arrived at the precinct a little later than usual and Ryan and Esposito were already there when she barrelled past, stopping momentarily at her desk to deposit her bag and service piece, and continued on to Montgomery's office. She stopped and hesitated slightly before knocking, she still hadn't figured out what she was going to tell him. Or how much she was going to tell him. Before she could totally freak herself out she knocked on his door.

"Enter." Came his stern voice and Kate opened the door and entered.

-!-!-!-

Montgomery glanced up from his paperwork as he heard the door click closed and saw Beckett standing just inside of it. "Beckett." He acknowledged and continued when he realised that she wasn't moving. "Take a seat." He said and nodded his head towards the two chairs in front of his desk.

As Beckett sat Montgomery noticed that she was looking slightly nervous so decided to get the ball rolling. "Did you need to speak to me Beckett?" He asked.

"Um.. yes.." Beckett replied, looking intently at her hands in her lap. "I have something I need to tell you Sir…. But I'm not quite sure how to tell you…" she trailed off.

"Well," He said. "If it helps I've always found that doing it quick, like pulling off a Band-Aid, helps."

"Yeah… Well… Ok, here goes nothing…." Beckett looked up, stared Montgomery straight in the eye and told him like it is. "I'm pregnant."

Montgomery stared back, dumb struck. That was not what he was expecting to hear out of his lead detective; not that he wouldn't be happy for her.

"Are you going to say anything Sir?" Beckett asked him.

"Thankyou for telling me?" he quipped.

"That's all?" She asked, surprised. "Nothing else. Not going to ask who the father is?"

"Not until you decide to tell me." He replied. "Anything else?"

"No, Sir." Beckett responded.

"Well then." Montgomery replied and stood to see her out of the door. "Congratulations Beckett." He offered and patted her on the shoulder before she left.

-!-!-!-

Meanwhile out in the bullpen Ryan and Esposito were trying to look busy while they were really trying to figure out what Beckett was talking to Montgomery about. What they wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Ryan, the more observant of the two, noticed that Beckett hesitated before knocking on the door, and then really didn't look like she wanted to enter.

The only problem here was that there was nothing on the murder board so they couldn't even stand in front of it to see what was going on in Montgomery's office.

Both men were so absorbed in trying to look busy that neither noticed that Castle had walked in, sans coffee, and sat at his chair without even asking where Beckett was.

Esposito saw the Captain pat Beckett on the shoulder and noticed that she was leaving so he made sure Ryan and himself were actually doing work.

-!-!-!-

As Beckett stepped out of Montgomery's office the phone on her desk started ringing. She smiled at Castle on her way past him to answer it. "Beckett." She said and immediately started writing an address on her notepad. She put the phone down and addressed the boys across the room. "Come boys, we've got a body."

**AN2: **So let me know what you thought. How was the Kate-Alexis moment? And the Captain and the boys the precinct? Reviews make me happy! :D


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **this author would like to clear up some confusion from the last chapter. There were a few people who reviewed to tell me something along the lines of "Castle would remember if that happened" (You know who you are, and I have nothing against you), and I totally agree! BUT, that's not what I was saying at all. What I was saying was that while he also had memories he had convinced himself that it was a series of alcohol induced dreams. Because Kate never said anything to him, he wasn't willing to bring it up just in case it was just a dream, he'd look pretty stupid. And so the vicious circle began. Until, that is, the events of the first chapter!

Anyway, I hope that clears up the confusion.

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 4**

When Kate walked into the posh, up scale apartment, with Castle close behind her, there was a scent that she couldn't quite place, but all the same it made her stomach churn and she stopped for a moment to overcome the feeling. She nodded at one of the uniformed officers who directed her to the dinning room, where Lanie was standing over the body.

"Hey Girl." Lanie said and looked up. "You don't look so good…"

"Well," Kate started. "These things tend to happen." She finished and glanced downward, then over at Castle who was watching them intently.

Lanie then raised one eyebrow, and Kate gave her a slight nod. Castle was amazed how they seemed to have a whole conversation without speaking, and the fact that anyone else would have no idea what they were communicating to each other amazed him even more.

"Vic is some big time real estate tycoon, Tom Jennings." Esposito told them when he walked up. "The wife got home early this morning from a visit to their holiday house and found him like this."

"Good." Kate said. "Any other family?" She questioned.

"Yeah," Esposito said, looking at his note pad. "Sister. A Doctor Megan Johnson."

"Ok. Lanie, cause of death?"

"Blunt force trauma to the head." She said, indicating to the almost circular dent in the skull. "And the five stab wounds to the chest are post mortem. Time of death is two days; I'll get something more concrete when I get him back to the lab.

Kate nodded at the M.E. and turned to Esposito, "You and Ryan interview the wife, then question other tenants. I'll go hunt down the sister and see her."

-!-!-!-

Kate and Castle arrived at the hospital where Megan Johnson worked and Kate was full of trepidation; it was the same hospital that Josh worked at.

When Kate flashed her badge at the reception and was directed to the seventh floor to find Dr Johnson she groaned. It was the same floor that Josh worked on and she had been there many times.

The elevator was ridden in silence. Castle attempted to lay a comforting hand on Kate's arm but found that she was anything but relaxed and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. That was until the doors opened and who would he see but Doctor Motorcycle Boy leaning against the nurses station.

Kate quickly snapped out of the trance-like stated she had been in and stalked towards the nurse's station.

"Detective Beckett." She stated, pulling out her badge. "NYPD. I need to see Doctor Johnson."

Josh turned at the first sound of Kate's voice. "I can take you, Kate." He said.

"Thank you, Doctor Davidson." Was all she said to him and motioned for him to lead the way.

Josh attempted to make small talk, asking how Kate had been, what was going on, but Kate refused to talk to him and Castle wasn't stupid enough to try. They stopped in front of a door and Kate dismissed Josh with a "Thank you, Doctor Davidson." Then knocked on the door.

-!-!-!-

Megan Johnson, paediatric surgeon, was a petite woman. Slender figure, jet black hair that framed her face and small, delicate hands. She greeted them with a warm smile as she ushered them into her office.

"Please sit Detective, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you." Kate started. "Your brother was found murdered this morning when his wife came home."

Castle observed as Kate talked tenderly to the distraught doctor, he'd heard the discussion enough times to know what was being said, so he just watched. It amazed him still that she could be that soft and gentle after everything that she had been through. That she could talk so quaintly and still get the information that she needed, seemingly without the other person knowing that she'd done it. Before he knew what was happening Kate was standing and shaking the doctors hand, handing her card over and walking towards the door, thanking her again for her time.

Castle quickly got to his feet and followed her out and down a long series of corridors. When they saw Josh again, chatting up one of the nurses, he longed to reach out and take Kate's hand, or just touch her somewhere, but he knew it wouldn't be well received so he just kept walking beside her.

-!-!-!-

Kate managed to keep her emotions in check until she got into her car, but then she couldn't contain it anymore. She closed the door of her car and broke down in tears, and then registered Castle's hand on her back, rubbing gentle circles like he had been that morning. Not able to control her own actions Kate leaned into Castle's chest, and cried for about fifteen minutes.

"Sorry Castle." She said when she had composed herself enough to talk.

"No problem." Castle replied, and noticed that Kate was still leaning on him. "Maybe we should go…"

"Uh… Yeah." Kate said and sat back up. She looked in the mirror and fixed her makeup as much as she could. Then started her car and started the drive back to the precinct.

When they arrived back at the precinct Kate headed down to see Lanie and Castle started to follow her. "No Castle." She said, "I'm going to talk to Lanie." And somehow that stopped him from following her down to the basement.

-!-!-!-

When Kate stepped into the morgue she was hit full on with the smell of dead body and ran to the bin, as she couldn't keep the nausea away this time.

"You ok there, Girl?" Lanie asked, concern in her voice.

"Do I look ok?" Kate snapped back.

"Well, the throwing up is normal for your condition." Lanie started. "But something has happened, coz last I knew you were going to the hospital to see the sister and now you got red puffy eyes and your makeup is ruined." Lanie elaborated.

"At the hospital I ran into Josh, and I was fine while I spoke to the sister and then when we got back to the car I just started crying. Then when Castle started rubbing circles on my back I started sobbing even harder, into his chest. I think everything just caught up with me." Kate told her and walked towards the door. "And Lanie."

"Yeah."

"I haven't told the boys about my 'condition' as you so lovingly put it. So keep it to yourself. Yeah?" Kate said and headed for the elevator.

Just as she got to the elevator she heard Lanie call out. "And Kate, I got time of death." Kate stopped and looked back with a questioning eyebrow. "Sunday night, between five and eight."

-!-!-!-

When Castle walked onto the homicide floor at the 12th, coffees in hand, Esposito and Ryan were at their desks, seemingly doing work. That is until they realised that Beckett wasn't with him, at that point they sidled over to him and started asking him questions.

"Do you know what's wrong with Beckett?"

"Do you know what she told the Captain this morning?"

"Is she ok? She looked kind of pale earlier."

"Where is she now?"

After that barrage of questions he was glad that he had decided to wear a black shirt that day. If the boys had seen the tear stains on his shirt neither of them would have heard the end of it.

Castle decided that answering the questions was of upmost importance, even if he didn't answer them truthfully.

"No. No. She's fine. And currently she's-"

"She is right behind you." Kate said in a stern voice at which point the boys jumped and turned to face her. "And don't you two have work you could be doing? I need one of you two to call Doctor Johnson and see what she was doing between five and eight on Sunday night." She finished and turned away.

Kate stalked towards the murder board that the boys had started putting together and added time of death. She also added Doctor Johnson's picture to the 'People of Interest' side of the board.

Castle waited until he had seen both Ryan and Esposito leave the bullpen and walked up to Kate and whispered in her ear. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

"Of course."

"Good." He replied. "Wear something nice, I'll pick you up at 7."

**AN2: **Interesting piece of trivia, before posting this chapter I had more hits than the story has words. Sooo overwhelmed!

Thanks for reading.

:D


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: **This author wishes to acknowledge all the people who have review, you guys are awesome. This author also profusely apologises that she hasn't had time to reply to reviews as she is coming up to the end of her last year of school…. Busy time all around to be had… much fun!

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 5**

When Kate next realised what the time was it was almost five and Montgomery was telling her to leave. She was glad that Ryan ad Esposito were out somewhere chasing up some of Tom's business associates, because if they heard the Captain telling her to go home, and her actually listening to him, in the middle of a case, they would have known something was up. And she didn't need them knowing yet. They should find out about her and Castle first. _Wait_, she thought, _Her and Castle?_ Surely her subconscious hadn't decided for her what she wanted, but then maybe she'd known it all along.

Kate quickly gathered her things, called a hurried goodbye to the Captain and left. She had been wondering all afternoon where Castle might be taking her for dinner, and the drive back to her apartment was no exception. She remembered Castle making a few mysterious phone calls, and then leaving around two in the afternoon saying vaguely that 'inspiration had struck' and that 'he needed to write'. She hadn't thought it strange at the time, she had been trying to contact Tom's parents, who were on a trip to Canada, but now that she thought about it, it seemed strange. Castle never left to write, either he would commandeer one of her pads of paper, or start typing into that iPhone of his. Never had he gone home to write in the middle of a case.

Kate continued her drive home thinking about what Castle could have been doing all afternoon, perhaps he _was_ actually writing.

-!-!-!-

Kate, having no luck getting an answer from Castle about what 'nice' meant, decided on her black halter dress with the scoop back that hung to just below her knee. It hugged her figure in all the right places and enhanced her already plump breasts. She had washed and blow-dried her hair, and left to down because she knew how much Castle liked that way. She had applied a smattering of makeup, and had just found the black jacket that she was looking for when her doorbell rang. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was precisely seven. Kate pulled on her jacket, stepped into her black heels, grabbed her purse and walked towards the door.

Kate looked through the peephole and saw Castle's face smiling up at her, taking up the whole space that she could see. She opened the door and he was holding out a single red rose. Kate was suddenly thankful she didn't put on much makeup as her eyes started to tear up.

"Thanks Castle." She said, taking the rose and going to find a bud glass for it. She turned from the sink after filling it with water to find Castle still standing in the entrance to her apartment, looking slightly awkward, like he didn't quite know what the boundaries were. He even jumped slightly when she walked back up to him and placed a hand on his arm.

"We should get going." He said and they made their way out of her apartment building to his waiting town car. "You look stunning." He told her as they got into his car.

"Thanks Castle." Seemed to be the only words she could utter as she settled into the back seat with him and the driver pulled out into traffic.

"So Castle," Kate started, having found her voice. "Where are you taking me tonight?"

"That, my dear," He replied. "Is a surprise." He finished placing a tentative hand on her knee, and relaxed a little when she didn't object to it.

They sat in comfortable silence until they pulled up in front of what Kate thought was a very bland, nondescript building. Castle got out and offered her his hand, which she accepted and she noticed that he stopped to have clandestine conversation with his driver of which she only picked up the very last "thankyou" that Castle muttered.

"So Castle, now that we're here, can you tell me where 'here' is?" she asked coyly.

"If I told you-" He started, but never got to finish.

"Don't say you'd have to kill me." Kate stated blandly.

"Ok." Was all the reply she got, well that and his proffered elbow which she gladly took since she had no idea where she was going.

-!-!-!-

Kate had a hard time processing what was going on as they walked around the side of the building and a section of it seemingly opened when they walked up to it. Castle lead her into the building where the host appeared and took their jackets and led them further into the building through a series of hallways. There was no way she would be able to leave without some assistance.

They were lead through a doorway into a small, but elegant, room with a single table and a string quartet playing quietly in the corner. Kate was almost reduced to tears again by the sight.

Castle gently lead her to the table and pulled out her chair for her then made his way around the table to his own. He sat and poured them both a glass of water.

"Don't feel like you can't drink wine on my account Castle." Kate told him.

"It's fine." Castle replied. "It's not like I should drink a whole bottle of wine myself." He finished cheekily and out of nowhere the waiter appeared with their meals.

-!-!-!-

Dinner was divine, and desert was sickeningly sweet and thankfully Kate didn't have the slightest need to throw it up. After they were finished Castle stood from his chair and held his hand out to Kate.

"Dance with me?"

Kate placed her hand in his and got to her feet. He led her closer to the quartet and pulled her gently into his arms, and for quite some time they stayed like that, just swaying in each others embrace. That is until Kate felt the time had come to talk.

"Castle." She started, and then decided to correct herself. "Rick, I think we really need to talk about this."

"Surely." He replied, and led her to a small lounge that she hadn't even noticed was there.

Once seating she turned to him. She had been thinking about this all afternoon, and he was waiting for her to start.

"Rick," She began, and laid a soft hand on his thigh, and the carefully crafted script evaded her. "I don't really know how to put this, and I wouldn't put my heart out there for just any guy, I hope you know that." She paused and looked straight into his eyes and they were shinning at her. At that moment she knew she could do this. It was now or never. "Rick, you've been my partner for three years," and it was now time to bear her heart. "And for longer than that your books have been helping me cope with everything life could throw at me." Kate really didn't know where she was going, only what she wanted to end up saying. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've gotten more than used to you pulling my pigtails, and I think we could make this, _us_, work."

For the first time in his life Castle was lost for words, he really had no idea what to say, and now he could see Kate tearing up again.

"Kate, what's wrong?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.

"What's wrong?" She mimicked sarcastically. "What's wrong? What's wrong is that I bare my heart to you and all you do is sit there and stare at me. You, the great bearer of words, just sits there and-" Kate was cut off mid rant by Castle's lips pressing softly to hers, in the gentlest kiss she had ever felt.

"Kate." Castle said softly once he had pulled back and placed his hand on her cheek. "The only reason I didn't respond is because I couldn't find the words, but let me try?" He asked pleadingly. In response Kate placed her hand over his, looked into his stunningly blue eyes, and nodded.

"Kate." He started. "I, the master of words, am stumped over what to say to you; except these three simple words. I love you. I haven't yet found another way to say it that would do my feelings for you justice and not sound corny, and you, my dear, deserve far more than corny."

Kate could feel the tears in her eyes threatening to fall. In her opinion he couldn't have worded it better. She leaned closer to him, and just before pressing her lips to his, she repeated his words back to him. "I love you, too."

A small while later the host came to show them back out to the door, and they made their way to the street where Castle's driver was waiting for them.

Kate stopped short of stepping into the car and turned to Castle. "One thing I couldn't figure out Rick." She said.

"What's that Kate?"

"How on earth did they know when to bring us out food?" She asked him.

"A magician never reveals his secrets." He replied with a laugh before dropping a light kiss on her lips and encouraging her into the car.

-!-!-!-

The drive back to Kate's apartment was full of their usual banter, that is until Kate turned to a slightly serious topic: what were they going to tell people, as Castle said, "We can keep it a secret forever, people are going to figure it out one day."

So it was decided, they would tell Alexis and Martha the following evening. Kate told him that Lanie already knew, but that the boys didn't. She also realised that she really did need to tell her dad and that they would make a time to have dinner with time, so time that week.

The car was soon pulling up in front of Kate's building and Castle was helping her out and walking her up to her door. He waited until she had unlocked her door, and then took her hand.

"Until tomorrow, Detective." He said quietly.

"Goodnight Rick." She replied and leaned up to place a gentle kiss on his lips before entering her apartment.

Kate sighed in contentment as she walked through her apartment towards her bedroom to ready herself for bed. She was exhausted; it had been a long day. She found the t-shirt she had been wearing the previous night, which still smelled like Castle's loft, and changed into it before falling into bed and succumbing to sleep.

-!-!-!-

Rick Castle walked into his loft across town in a very similar manor. He stepped inside with a huge smile on his face and was glad his menacing mother wasn't around. He was almost skipping when he poked his head inside his daughter's room to tell her he was home and goodnight. He then went and acquired one of the pillows from the guest room and took himself off to bed.

**AN2: **This author is not really sure how she feels about this chapter, really just the Kate/Rick conversation, but her critique again told her it was amazing.

Let me know what you think…?


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **This author apologises for the sporadic posting of chapters, but they're getting posted when I get time to send them to my critique around all of the school work I have due in the next couple of weeks. This author is also very glad that so many people like her story, it's good to know.

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 6**

Kate awoke the next morning, oddly refreshed. She hadn't slept that well since the night she had slept with Castle, and at thoughts of that her insides turned to mush and she felt all warm and fuzzy. Kate was pulled out of her thoughts, and her bed, by the ringing of her phone, which she had left on her dresser across the room. She didn't even glance at the caller ID before answering it with a simple, "Beckett."

"Good morning, Detective." Was the happy reply she got back.

"Castle?" She asked, more for her own benefit. "Why are you calling me? Do you realise it's," she stopped and glanced at the clock and her eyes widened. "Shit. It's after eight-thirty. That's why you're calling me." It was a statement, not a question.

"I just wanted to make sure you're ok, since you're not at the prescient yet." He replied, clearly worried about her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just over slept. I'll be there in half an hour." She told him.

"I'll have coffee and a bear claw waiting." She heard before hanging up.

-!-!-!-

When Kate arrived at the 12th twenty minutes later she was greeted by a hot cup of decaf and a bear claw sitting on her desk, but no Castle in sight. She picked up her coffee and headed towards the break room, but all she found was Ryan and Esposito.

"Hey boys." She greeted them. "Do you know where Castle is?"

"Uhh boss." Ryan said.

"He's your shadow." Esposito finished for him. "And how do you know he's here?"

In response Kate pointed at her coffee with her free hand and headed back out just in time to see Castle coming out of Montgomery's office, grinning widely. She stalked over to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him around the corner, unaware that all three men were watching her, eyebrows raised.

Around the corner Kate pushed Castle against the wall and poked his chest fairly forcefully. "What," She asked him, vengeance in her voice. "Were you talking to Montgomery about?"

"He just wanted to talk," Castle started. "You know, man to man, father to father."

"About what?" She asked and realised that she was practically interrogating him.

"Uhh…" Castle replied and Kate grabbed his ear and started twisting it. "Apples, Apples, Apples!" Kate let go of his ear and stared at him, he caved. "Fine he asked if I knew how you were going, since you weren't here yet. I just told him that I'd called you and that you'd over slept." He told her and added in a whisper, "Neither one of us said anything about your condition."

"Good." Was all the reply she made before walking back to her desk.

-!-!-!-

Kate had been sitting at her desk a while when Esposito came and gave her an update on the case.

"We've spoken to quite a few of Jennings business associates, and they all had positive things to say about him. He was a good boss, rarely got angry, sorted out all the problems at work. But his secretary told me that his sister came in the middle of last week and that when she left neither of them were in good moods."

"Thanks." Kate replied. "Do a little digging on the sister will you?"

Kate was just reading through Jennings' will, which had only recently been updated, when Lanie called her.

"Hey Girl," Lanie started. "I found something interesting with the stabs in your vic."

"Go on, Lanie"

"Well the thing is that they match one of he instruments that I have down here. They match the largest scalpel I have."

"Thanks Lanie." Kate replied before hanging up her phone and saw Castle's 'you know something' face staring at her.

"I'm thinking it was the sister." Kate said to him.

"Oh..?"

"Yeah." She said casually. "Coz he was stabbed with a scalpel."

"Yeah, ok." Castle replied. "But what was her motive."

"I'm getting to that." Kate said then turned back to her screen.

-!-!-!-

Kate ended up finding her motive, and had the boys bring in Megan Johnson for questioning. It didn't take much for her to break under Kate's interrogation.

As it happens Mrs Jennings just recently found out that she's pregnant, and Tom and Megan had been fighting for months. So when Tom found out that he was going to be a father he wrote his sister out of his will. How Megan found this out is a mystery that she wouldn't divulge, but she went over to see her brother when his wife wasn't home (how she knew that was another mystery) to try and 'talk some sense into him'. Which for him didn't end well. She pushed him just a little hard and he hit his head on one of the decretive ornaments. She then went and got one of her scalpels out of her bag in her car, to make it look like a random stabbing.

-!-!-!-

Kate sat at her desk later that afternoon trying to finish up her paperwork when Castle found her, only she wasn't doing paperwork, she was staring into space.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Castle asked her, actually dropping a penny onto her desk. "Besides which," He continued in a whisper. "We need to get going if we're going to make dinner with mother and Alexis."

"That's what was getting to me." She replied.

"Alexis?" He questioned, sitting in 'his' chair.

"I was just thing about Megan Johnson, and how she killed her brother because he had written her out of his will." She replied.

"And..?" Castle trailed off, not quite getting her point.

"What if Alexis, or your mother for that matter, don't approve of you and me, or the baby? What if they want nothing to do with me?" She asked in a rush, aware that she was babbling.

"Kate." Castle said to her, taking both her hands, and looking her straight in the eye. "My family think you're amazing, and they have known I've loved for longer than I have. They will be more than pleased that we are together. The baby might come as a bit of a she shock to them, but they will embrace it all the same. Ok?"

Kate can't speak for the tears threatening to escape her eyes, so she just nods.

"Right then," Castle continued. "We should get you back to your apartment so you can get ready for dinner, and then got back to my loft. Alexis is cooking." He stands and offers her his hand.

Kate just nods and stands, taking his hand and walking towards the elevator, unaware of the three sets of eyes watching them from the break room.

**Let me know what you think :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN – IMPORTANT, THIS NEEDS TO BE READ – **This author wishes to advise that this chapter has jumped forward a couple of months. So this is where the important timeline explanation comes in. For purposes of this story, LA happened in late May, so this story started in early August, and this chapter jumps us forward to about the second week of December. So, having said that it is now winter, now I'm not claiming to know how the weather works in New York (because I live in Australia) but I'm hoping it's ok that I've made it snow….. it really is just for the effect of it snowing sometimes, and so we'll get Christmas in a couple of weeks…. And having said this Beckett is about six months pregnant. Oh, and if I've stuffed anything up because I don't understand the way anything works in America, I'm sorry and feel free to correct me!

Hopefully that will clear up what's happening in this chapter. And also this chapter and the next few will have flashbacks of how they tell everyone about them and the baby.

This author also wishes to acknowledge tiff098765 who gave me the suggestion for how to tell Alexis! I honestly hadn't thought of that!

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

(Did you read the Author's Note? If not go back and take a read, it's important!)

**Chapter 7 **

Kate stood looking out the window of Rick's loft. _Our loft_, she thought. As she started to think about how much her life had changed since that fateful trip to LA about six months ago. Her and Rick had spent one alcohol induced night of passion together, and as a result were together, living together, and preparing for the arrival of their offspring in a couple of months.

Kate was so lost in thought that she didn't hear Rick walk up behind her. Didn't even know that she was there until he wrapped his arms around her ever-expanding middle.

"Penny for your thoughts, Detective?" He whispered in her ear.

"I was just remembering the night we told Alexis and your mother about all of this." She replied.

"That was an interesting evening." He said, a twinkle in his eye as he clearly remembered it well.

"That it was." Kate said, as she gazed at the city lights out the window amidst the snow that was falling.

_It had been a rough couple of days for Kate. She had found out that she was pregnant, told Rick and they were together, and the case they'd caught had helped either. But they had decided that Alexis and Martha should know about everything as soon as possible. So that's just what they did, after Rick had assured her that they would approve of her and the baby._

_They detoured to Kate's apartment before going to Rick's loft so that Kate could get changed, and Rick had somehow convinced her that an overnight bag wouldn't go astray either._

_Rick, being the curious creature that he is, started poking around her apartment, as he hadn't done so the night before. Suddenly he realised that half an hour had passed and Kate still hadn't reappeared. He walked towards her bedroom and knocked lightly on the door._

"_Kate?" He questioned. "Are you all right in there?"_

"_Yeah," she responded tiredly. "I just don't know what to wear." She said in a defeated tone._

"_Anything is fine." Rick told her. "It's just my family, and they love you already."_

_Five minutes later she appeared in jeans and a light sweater, a bag in one hand and her suit jacket draped over the other arm._

"_Let's go then." She said, and they left her apartment and headed back to her car._

_Twenty minutes later they arrived in the basement parking of Rick's building and he directed her to his visitor park, they got out of her car, but she wisely left her bag in the car. She would come back for it later if the need arose._

_Kate was jittery the whole way up to his loft and Rick took her hand just before the ding that indicated their arrival at his floor, and they jumped apart. He let them into his loft and as soon as the door closed a redheaded whirlwind came rushing at them._

"_Dad." Alexis said in a scolding tone. "You're late. Dinner has been sitting in the oven for ten minutes."_

"_Sorry." He said. "But Kate took her time getting ready. What's for dinner?"_

"_Oh, I made shepherds pie." Alexis told them offhandedly, walking towards the kitchen and indicating that they should follow._

"_And where's grams?" Rick asked his daughter._

"_Right here." The woman in question replied, coming down the stairs._

"_Always one to make an entrance." Rick mumbled._

_Dinner was fabulous, but no one was surprised as Alexis had always been a good cook. They were having a pleasant time and then out of nowhere Kate noticed Rick staring at her, and she nodded slightly._

"_Mother." Rick started. "Alexis." But he didn't know where to go after that and looked at Kate for help._

"_We've got some news for you." Kate continued, and then took Rick's hand in her own trying to gather her thoughts._

"_Dad?" Alexis questioned. "Detective Beckett?" And Kate saw her opening._

"_How many times?" Kate asked coyly. "Have I told you to call me Kate?"_

"_As many times as I've told you I won't unless you start dating my dad." Alexis answered without thinking anything of it. Kate saw it the moment the young girl realised and the expression her face was priceless, it was soon diminished by a squeal of pure joy. Alexis recovered and rounded the table._

"_Dad. Kate." Alexis started, mischief in her voice. "You two finally got over yourselves and figured out what everyone else has been able to see for at least two years?" Kate couldn't decide if it was a statement or a question._

_Martha just patted her son on the shoulder, "Good on you." Was all she said._

"_Alexis." Her father said gently. "You might want to go sit down."_

"_Why?" She asked. _

"_Just sit, and I'll tell you."_

_Alexis rounded the table again and sat back down, an expectant look on her face that was an exact mirror of her grandmother._

"_There's another thing we thought important to tell you." Rick started, and looked at Kate again, this was really her place to say._

"_I'm pregnant." Kate whispered, eyes on the table, she didn't care what Rick had told her earlier; she was still scared._

_She glanced up and saw two identical shocked expressions. It was Martha that recovered first, and let out a squeal that could have rivalled her granddaughters from barely five minutes earlier. _

_Before she knew it, Kate was engulfed in a Castle hug and suddenly all her worries were gone.._

The young Castle coming in the front door pulled the couple out of their collective memory. She bounced up to them and gave them both a hug, it had taken Kate quite a while to get used to being hugged on such a regular basis, but she was fine with it now. After Alexis had given hugs all around, and said hello to Kate's growing belly, as she always did, she bounded up the stairs to her room. Kate followed her at a slower pace; it was the night of their weekly Russian lesson, which both women had come to enjoy.

Rick had learnt by now to leave them to their own devices during these times, so he headed towards the kitchen to start preparing dinner. While preparing their dinner he started to reminisce on how much his family had grown over the last couple of months. Specifically the latest addition: Jim Beckett. The night he had met him was still fresh in Rick's mind.

_Kate had organised dinner with her father for the Saturday night after she had found out that she was pregnant. What she failed to tell him was that Rick was going to be with her. The surprise that Rick saw on Jim Beckett's face when he saw them walk into the diner hand in hand was priceless. _

_They sat and ordered their dinner and Kate quickly told her father that they were together. His reply told Rick that he had gathered that the moment they had walked in. After they had finished eating, and Kate had (almost) finished filling her father in on the goings on in her life she took his hand and looked him straight in the eye._

"_Dad," She started. "I have some important news." She paused slightly to gather her composure. "I'm pregnant." _

_Jim Beckett looked at his daughter and sighed. "I knew something was up." He said. "I just didn't want to say anything."_

"_How'd you know?" Kate asked him._

"_You're mother looked exactly the same the night she told me she was pregnant with you." Jim replied softly._

_At those words tears started streaming down Kate's face and she excused her to gather her composure._

_Rick noticed the exact moment that Jim's demure changed. He went from 'relaxed' to 'I'm interrogating the man that's dating my daughter' in a mere second. Rick only noticed it because the same change had happened in him a couple of times. He just sat and waited for the onslaught. He was not to be disappointed._

"_So son." Jim said in his most intimidating voice. "What are your intentions towards my daughter?" And suddenly Rick felt like he was in high school again, picking up Maddy Turner for his Junior Prom._

"_I love her, sir." Rick told Jim, not finding any other words to describe how he felt._

_As suddenly as it had changed the first time, Jim Beckett's demure was relaxed again and Rick knew that Kate had returned._

_As they were saying their goodbyes the two men watched Kate as she walked towards the door. Jim leaned over and said two words to Rick before he left._

"_You'll do." And Rick knew that he had her father's approval, and that Kate need know nothing off it._

Rick had no recollection how he'd finished making the burgers that were to be their dinner, but he had. So he called his girls down with the only Russian word they had taught him; and they came, stomachs rumbling.

-!-!-!-

Later that night as they readied themselves for bed Kate thought about the face that it would be the first time that they would be sleeping in their bed. Not that they hadn't slept in the bed before, but it was now _their _bed in _their loft_ and Kate couldn't get enough of the thought.

They climbed into bed and Kate snuggled into his embrace and felt content. She felt like she could handle anything life could throw at her, as long as he held her in his arms like that.

**AN:** So what did you think of Alexis and Martha and Jim's reactions? Did I get them right? Let me know… :D


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:** This author wished to thank all of those who read and review, it makes her day! This chapter goes out to those who wanted to see how the boys reacted to the news, it's in flashbacks again, coz that's how I write. I hope it lives up to standards!

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 8**

When Kate and Rick walked out of the elevator on the homicide floor of the 12th the following Monday nobody found it unusual that his arm was around her shoulders and hers around his waist. It had become the norm over the last couple of months since they had been together, and that thought made Kate chuckle slightly thinking about the first time they had walked into the precinct that way.

_Kate and Rick had talked for quite a while about how they should let Ryan and Esposito about them. Rick wanted to play some sort of ridiculous prank on them, while Kate thought just telling them would be suffice enough to have them falling over. In the end they settled somewhere in the middle._

_They walked out of the elevator the following morning, Rick's arm around her shoulders and Kate's arm around his waist, like there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. Kate noticed a twinkle in the Captain's eye, she was sure he knew what they were playing at._

_Kate and Rick walked past the boys at their desks and greeted them in a very noncommittal fashion. _

"_Morning Boss." They replied in unison, barely glancing up from their work._

_They continued on to Kate's desk and Kate gave Rick a light peck on his lips then sat while he went to get them coffee. One of the boys must have noticed because suddenly they were both staring at her as if she had grown a second head._

"_What?" Kate asked, startling them._

"_Nothing, nothing." They both said, as if not quite sure they believed what they had seen._

_After Rick was back sitting in his chair, Kate noticed that the boys had their heads together, whispering about something._

"_Care to share with the class?" She asked casually._

"_Uhh… Are you and uhh… Castle… You know…" Esposito starts, stumbling over his words._

"_Why do you ask?" Kate asked them, noticing that Rick could barely supress a grin._

"_Well…" Ryan continued for his partner who seems to have lost all forms of speech. "You do look awful… Uh…." Ryan finished as he waved his hand in their general direction._

"_Cosy..?" Esposito suggested._

"_Yeah, so?" Kate asked, having to use all her training to keep a straight face._

_Ryan and Esposito turn back to their work and Rick grinned at Kate knowing they had won that round._

Kate was pulled out of her memory by the ringing of her desk phone. It was Lanie; calling to let her know all the finalities about the case they had closed the previous day. Kate listened and thanked her friend, then settled back into her paperwork. The next on her long list being her maternity leave papers. That, and the phone call she had just shared with Lanie, had the effect of delving her back into her memory of telling Ryan and Esposito.

_Kate pretended not to notice the money she saw passing hands all day, finally she decided it was time to implement the plan they had figured out the night before. She called Lanie and said two words. "It's time." Then her and Rick walked down to see Lanie._

_When Kate and Rick arrived down in the morgue Lanie had all the equipment out ready, and Rick became slightly fidgety._

"_I thought we agreed you wouldn't actually…" Rick said to Lanie, gesturing at the equipment._

"_We're not, don't worry." Lanie said. "I thought it would be better for the purpose of fooling the boys if it was here."_

"_Crap." Kate said after a moment. "I don't have my bag, which means I don't have the photos."_

"_That's alright," Lanie told her. "I called Rachel this morning and asked for some because you wanted a few more copies, but didn't have time to go back. So she emailed them to me." She continued, handing the prints over._

"_Right then." Rick said. "All systems go. Lanie, call Esposito and get them down here."_

_While Lanie made the phone call Kate got herself up on one of the tables and laid down, Rick taking one of her hands._

"_Their coming down." Was all Lanie said as she came over to them. She had put the prints back into the printer and they waited._

_When they heard the elevator arrive Lanie picked up the ultrasound wand and pretended to clean it up while Kate had another cloth, pretending to clean up her own stomach._

_Ryan and Esposito arrived just in time to see Kate rearranging her clothing and Lanie putting down the ultrasound wand then going to pick up the prints from her printer. The boys stood and stared, mouths agape, like deer caught in headlights._

"_Thanks Lanie." Kate said taking the prints from her friend. "I knew I could count on you." She then turned to Rick who pulled her into a tight embrace. "Rick," She whispered loud enough for the boys to hear. "We're having a baby." Her voice was pure excitement and her and Rick walked, arm in arm, out past the still stunned boys._

_Just after they walked out the door Kate turned back to the boys and spoke. "Close your mouths, we are not codfish." They then proceeded to the elevator._

Kate also remembered Lanie telling her that it had taken a while for her to convince the boys that, yes, her and Rick were together, and that Kate was most certainly pregnant. Kate heaved a sigh and continued filling out paperwork, while the boys did the same, and Rick sat in his chair next to her with his laptop. He had a deadline for the first draft of the next instalment of Nikki Heat coming up, but he didn't want to leave her at work alone.

Suddenly her phone rang again. "Beckett." She answered, and then listened as she took down an address. "Boys." She said to get their attention. "You've got a body." She said and gave them the address.

Kate still hadn't figured out why they kept calling her about bodies when she hadn't been out in the field for well over a month. Captain's orders. Well not just Captain's orders, NYPD policy. Once they'd hit their fourth month, pregnant women weren't allowed in the field anymore. She had to conduct her investigations from her desk, which she hated.

Less than twenty minutes later Kate got the phone call that always came after sending the boys out. It was Esposito. "Vic is Hannah Davidson. 25. Insurance telemarketer. Her brother called the building manager when he hadn't heard from her for almost two weeks. Building manager came up, opened the door, smelt the body and rang 911." He told her, before handing the phone off to Lanie.

"GSW to the back," Lanie said. ".45 by the looks of it. I wont know anymore until I get her back to the lab."

"Thanks Lanie." Kate said to her friend. "Can I get Esposito back?"

"Here Boss." He said.

"Good. I want you to hunt down the brother."

"Already done, he coming into the station, and Ryan's already questioned tenants. We should be back before the brother gets there. See you soon." Esposito said before ending their call.

Kate was well on her way to getting the murder board together when the boys walked in, so she didn't notice the brother of the victim with them.

By the time they came back out Kate was sitting at her desk and was startled by who the boys had with them. _Josh,_ she thought. _What the hell is he doing here?_

"Esposito." She hissed and he came over to her with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Yes?" He said gingerly.

"What?" She asked forcefully. "Is he doing here?"

"Bother of the victim." Was all Esposito said.

"And you didn't feel the need to tell me this?" Kate asked hysterically, standing up.

But Esposito didn't get the chance to answer, as at this point there was a voice Kate really didn't want to hear.

"Kate?" Was all Josh said before he took in Kate's condition, and saw the concern in Rick's face as he ran his hand up her arm.

Before anyone knew what was happening Josh had approached Rick and punched him in the face. Chaos ensured.

Kate turned Josh to face her and slapped him, right before she bent down to Rick to make sure he was ok.

Esposito grabbed both of Josh's arms and pulled them behind the man's back and Ryan rushed up and cuffed him. Esposito then started to push Josh, none to gently, towards the elevator. He was going to spend some time in a cell.

Kate was fussing over Rick's bleeding nose when Montgomery walked out of his office to enquire about what had happened while he had been on the phone with they Mayor.

"Well sir, I'm not really sure." Kate told him. "Ryan and Esposito were showing Josh out after telling him about his sister's murder, and he saw me and punched Rick. Then Esposito and Ryan took him away." Kate said, purposefully not telling him she had slapped Josh. "Now if you'll excuse me sir, I need to call Lanie." Kate said just as Lanie exited the elevator and ran towards them.

"Esposito told me." Was all the explanation she gave before bending down to check out Rick's face.

-!-!-!-

Josh sat in the cell that Esposito had unceremoniously dumped him in, his hands still cuffed behind his back, thinking about what had overcome him.

He had seen Kate pregnant, about six months was his guess. He had seen that 'partner' of hers being all affectionate with her and rage overcame him, because it meant one of two things in his mind. One; she had lied to him and had been sleeping with him while they were together, but he could never punch a lady, so it was Castle's fault. Or two; the baby was his and Kate never told him, and now Castle was going to play daddy to his child.

Esposito came back to take his cuffs off, and Josh asked if he could speak to Kate.

"Well," Esposito started. "Considering that you just slugged her boyfriend, not to mention the father of her unborn children, I don't think that's going to happen."

"Why not?" Josh asked, anger filling his voice. "You have no say over her. You're not her brother, or her father, or her boyfriend."

"Well, neither are you." Esposito said to him before walking off.

"Do I at least get a phone call?" Josh yelled after him.

Soon after one of the guards took him so he could make a phone call. He dialled a number he knew by heart and after giving his name he said two words, so quietly that the guard couldn't hear.

"Kate Beckett."

**AN: **So what do you think of the Josh storyline, you have my critique to thank for that, it was originally going to be the first case, but then I realised that his reaction would be way better if Kate was visibly pregnant.

Also cookies for anyone who picks up the Marry Poppins reference! :D

And it just has to be said… One Day LEFT! :)


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** this author thanks all of those who read and review, and I didn't reply to your review I'm real sorry. Anyway, this chapter has another flash back in it which is a little smutty, also a little more Alexis…

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 9**

After being check over by Lanie, and being given the all clear despite his ever-blackening eye, and signing a piece of paper he was told was an assault charge, Montgomery told Kate and Rick that they were to go home. "And that's and order." He said. So Kate called for the car and they headed for the elevator.

They slowly made their way down to the bottom floor of the 12th and waited just outside the door, Kate claiming that she needed some air. They had only been standing there for about five minutes when their car pulled up and Murrey, the driver, got out to help them both into the car. Inside the car Kate snuggled into Ricks side as Murrey pulled the car into the flow of traffic and headed towards the loft.

-!-!-!-

There was a shady figure lurking in the shadows just down from the main entrance of the 12th, a photo of Detective Kate Beckett firmly in hand. When the woman in question exited, a man by her side with a rather black eye, the shady figure straightened, watching them intently.

Kate Beckett leaned into the man's side. One Richard Castle, mystery writer, it was to be presumed since she was pregnant with, presumably, his child. _Though the Boss would like to think differently from what I hear. _The shady figure thought.

A car was seen to arrive, and the driver helped the couple into the car; then resumed his position and pulled into the flow of traffic.

The shady figure scampered to a dark coloured car and followed them at a discrete distance until they arrived at a large apartment building and parked across the road and waited. _They had to come out at some point._

-!-!-!-

When they arrived back at their loft Kate was insistent that Rick lay down, at least for a little while. He agreed, but only if she came with him, and since she was rather tired they both ascended the stairs to their room.

After making sure Rick was comfortable, and that there was Tylenol and water on his bedside table, Kate finally climbed into bed and snuggled into his warm embrace. She quickly felt him drifting off to sleep and was happy just to relax with him beside her. As she laid there, only her thoughts to amuse her, she thought back on the first night they had made love, in the very bed they were laying in now. Not the night that new life was created, the first night they both actually remembered….

_Kate was getting annoyed. Though annoyed probably wasn't the correct word, the word she wanted was horny. Kate Beckett was pregnant and horny. And annoyed. _

_She was at the start of her second trimester, her and Rick had been together for about six weeks and he was being the perfect gentleman. Sure they slept in the same bed more often then not, but that was it. They slept, and Kate wanted, no she needed, more._

_So the following morning Kate pulled out her big puppy dog eyes on him. The ones that had managed to get her anything she wanted in the weeks prior, except him where she wanted him. She asked him to take her to dinner at that fancy Italian place, which wasn't too hard since he'd wanted to take her there for weeks._

_Kate went back to her own apartment after work to ready herself for dinner. She dressed in the slinky, midnight black dress that showed off her breasts and fell to just above the knee. Her makeup was dark and smoky and she left her hair to fall naturally around her shoulders, just the way she liked it. She put on her red, strappy shoes, picked up the matching red purse and put everything of importance in it. She was just about ready when Rick rang her doorbell._

"_Just a minute." She called as she stopped at the hallway mirror to apply her lipstick that was the same shade of red as her shoes and purse. _

_The only way Kate could describe the look on Rick's face when she opened the door was lustful, and if the way he pulled her to him and kissed her was any indication, she was right._

_Kate moulded her body and moaned into his kiss, opening her mouth and Rick took up the invitation. When the need for oxygen arose Kate pulled back and composed herself. "Shall we leave then?" She asked sweetly and gave him a peck on the lips before walking out her door, emphasising the swing of her hips._

_Dinner was nice, though Kate wasn't paying that much attention to it and she was sure that Rick was paying more attention to her than his food as well. When leaving the restaurant Kate suggested they go back to his loft for the night._

"_Because my back hurts." She told him with those puppy-dog eyes as she was getting into the back of the car. "And your bed is sooo much more comfortable than mine." Suddenly her 'puppy-dog' face turned into a 'come hither' face, to which Rick immediately complied with. Following her into the back of the car, he slid across the seat and took her into his arms. _

"_I love you, Kate." Rick told her, place one hand gently on her cheek and kissing her softly and driving her crazy._

_The next thing Kate knew there was a gentle knock on the window, Murrey indicating that they had arrived. _

_Rick exited, and then helped Kate out of the car placing his hand on the small of her back while the walked towards the building. He nodded at the doorman as he held the door open and they continued on to the elevator, which opened as soon as he pressed the button, and they entered._

_As soon as the doors had closed Kate could no longer contain herself and she sidled over to Rick, wrapped her arms around his neck and started kissing him passionately, which he returned._

_Kate wasn't entirely sure how they progressed from the elevator to his loft, let alone to his bedroom. But suddenly she was unbuttoning Rick's shirt, she felt the bed against the back of her legs and Rick's rough voice in her ear._

"_I thought your back was sore Detective." He stated._

"_Maybe it was." Kate responded, a twinkle in her eye as she ran her hand down the expanse of his bare chest and pulled his shirt from his pants. "But this is one way to make me feel better." She finished seductively, before kissing him again._

_The kiss didn't last long before Rick pulled away. "Are you sure Kate?" He asked her._

"_Dammit Castle." She stated, before extracting herself from his arms. "Of course I'm sure. We've been together for six weeks. I love you. I'm having your child. I'm-" She was cut off by Rick's lips on hers and his arms around her waist._

"_I was just making sure." Rick told her a moment later. "I didn't want to do something we'd both regret later." He said, and kissed her again, allowing her to push his shirt down his arms._

_Things seemed to move quickly and slowly at the same time after that._

_Rick quickly found the zipper on her dress and opened it. But slowly pushed the strap down her arms and the dress off her body._

_Kate felt her way slowly down Rick's chest, undid his belt and slowly pulled it from the loops. She popped the button of his black slacks, opened the zipper and pushed his pants all the way off. Disposing of his shoes and socks at the same time._

_Then she was kissing him again, her fingers in his hair. She moaned deeply as his left hand found her still covered breast, while his right hand trailed down around her waist to lay her on his bed._

_Rick kissed his way down her body while he undid the clasp of her bra and his mouth found its way to her nipple and lavished it. His mouth made work to give the other the same attention, while his hands started to map out her body, as if committing it to memory. His mouth slowly made its way downwards as he slid her panties down her long legs._

_Kate looked down through half close eyes at the image of Rick's head between her legs, her hands in his hair, and moaned when she felt his lips on her thigh, not quite close enough to where she wanted it._

"_Rick." She moaned, as he brought his hand to her folds. "Please." Kate gasped as one of his fingers just entered her. "More." She moaned, almost begging and Rick complied._

_He pushed his finger in and stroked her inner walls, feeling her quake around him. He added another finger and she let out a pleasured sigh. He stroked her until she could feel herself falling._

"_Rick... Please.." Kate groaned out and finally Rick moved his mouth to where she wanted. She fell, with a strangled cry of his name. _

_When Kate came back to Rick was holding himself above her, completely naked. He kissed her and she could taste herself still on her lips, and she was aroused again. She could feel his want for her against her leg._

"_Rick.." Kate breathed in his ear, after breaking the kiss._

_Rick stroked one finger down the side of her face. "I love you, Kate." He breathed._

"_I lo-" Kate started to say before she was overcome by the intensified feeling of him entering her, filling her._

_Rick started to move, she moved in unison with him. A slow, almost leisurely pace, until she groaned deeply in his ear, and he picked up the pace._

_Kate started writhing under him and chanting his name. It only took a few more strokes and Kate was falling over the edge again and Rick was right there with her, calling her name….._

The next thing Kate knew a ringing phone was awakening her, out of instinct she picked it up and answered it. "Beckett." She grumbled.

"Kate!" Came the voice of Alexis. "What happened to dad?" Oh, yeah. She had sent that message to Alexis on their way back to the loft. What was she going to tell her?

"Your father is fine, Alexis." Kate told her.

"But what happened to him?" Alexis asked again. "Can I talk to him?"

"It'll be easier to explain when you get home, sweetie." Kate said. "Just hang on a sec, I'll wake your father so you can speak to him."

"Don't wake him on my account." Alexis said, worried.

"It's fine, he needs to wake up soon anyway. Just hang on." Kate said to the girl and put the phone down on the bedside table. "Rick," She whispered, gently shaking his arm. "Rick, you need to wake up."

"Don't wanna wake up," He mumbled sleepily.

"Rick," Kate said gently. "You need to wake up, Alexis is on the phone and she wants to speak with you."

"Alexis?" He asked groggily and Kate handed him the phone. "Alexis, pumpkin?"

"Dad!" Alexis exclaimed. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah pumpkin, I'm fine." He replied.

"What happened? Kate wont tell me until I get home."

"Well then," Rick told his daughter. "You will just have to wait until you get home, because I'm sure Kate could tell it better, being the outside party and all." A statement which Kate wacked him on the arm for.

"You're no fun." Alexis pretended to grumble. "Fine I'll see you in half an hour. Bye dad."

-!-!-!-

The shady figure watched as a young redheaded girl entered the building across the road, worry written all over her face. _Alexis Castle_, the shady figure thought, not really amazed at how much information had been gathered during the couple of hours of waiting. The shady figure was content that all but one of Kate Beckett's family had arrived home, but knew that the last member wasn't due home for the duration of the week.

-!-!-!-

Dinner that night was uneventful, except for the fact that Alexis was continually fussing over her father and Kate. The former because of his black eye, the latter because of what happened to her father.

After dinner was over, and Alexis had been assured by Kate numerous times that they would both be ok and gone to up to her room, Kate and Rick retired to their bedroom and get into bed.

"You are going to be able to come to my appointment tomorrow, aren't you?" Kate joked, as Rick had missed the last one due to a book reading he couldn't get out of, and Kate wasn't able to change the appointment.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." He told her. "I want to find out the sex of out babies at the same time as you." In missing the last appointment he had missed the doctor telling Kate they were having twins. Though Kate could barely contain her excitement when he had called her later that day.

"Goodnight, Rick." Kate mumbled as she snuggled into his arms.

"Goodnight, Kate," He whispered back. "I love you."

**AN:** Drop me a line, let me know what you think..


	10. Chapter 10

**AN:** This author, as always, would like to thank those that read and review, and like to welcome those new readers to my story. It's always nice to see the story alert emails in my inbox!

A big shout out goes to LouBird92 for their awesome, and inspiring review and ChrysLexiTaylor whose constant reviews have kept me going with this story!

-Enjoy :D

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 10**

Rick was up before Kate the following morning, excited about their appointment with the doctor that day. When Kate woke groggily it was to the smell of Rick bringing her breakfast in bed, almost bouncing while he was doing it.

"Nine-year-old on a sugar rush." Kate mumbled. "I swear I live with a nine-year-old on a sugar rush."

"Good morning to you too, Kate" Rick said cheerfully while handing her the tray with her breakfast.

"Good morning Rick." Kate replied, angling her head up for a kiss. "Thanks for breakfast."

"Anytime." Rick told her, sitting on the side of the bed.

"I'll hold you to that." Kate joked, then dug into her breakfast.

-!-!-!-

The shady figure watched from a vintage point across the road as the couple got into their car and then hurriedly made to the dark coloured car to follow them discreetly. When at last the stop-start of Manhattan traffic had subsided at the car in front had let its passengers out, the shady figure was looking up at a building full of medical offices. _This could be more difficult than I thought…_

-!-!-!-

Kate was once again waiting for the nine o'clock appointment with Dr Witherby and Rick was next to her bouncing in his chair with excitement. Kate placed her hand on his thigh and rubbed it slowly.

"Calm down Rick," She said gently. "Everything's going to be fine."

"I know, I'm just excited, that's all." Rick replied.

"So am I." Kate told him, kissing him gently.

"Ms Beckett, Mr Castle." The nurse called for them. "The doctor will see you now."

Kate took Rick's hand and stood, leading him to follow the nurse to the doctor's room.

"Ms Beckett, good to see you again." Dr Witherby said as she entered the room. "And Mr Castle, how nice to finally meet you. Lanie has told me much about you. Now Ms Beckett, if you'll step behind the curtain and get ready, we'll begin your ultrasound shortly."

Kate squeezed Rick's hand, then got up to change.

"It's fine, Mr Castle," Dr Witherby said. "This is just a routine ultrasound, make sure the babies are growing properly, that everything's going as it should, and you would like to find out the sex of the babies?" she asked.

"Yes," Rick replied. "We would."

"Certainly, I'll see what I can do." Dr Witherby said. "Ms Beckett, are you ready?"

"Yes." Kate called, to which Dr Witherby opened to curtain and walked over to the ultrasound machine. Rick found his place on the other side of the table that Kate was laying on and took her hand.

Kate flinched slightly at the feel of the gel on her expanding stomach as Dr Witherby put the wand to one side of her stomach and started taking measurements of the first baby they could see on the screen.

"Everything looks good for this one." Dr Witherby told them, then moved her wand around to find the other and started taking the same kind of measurements. "Everything looks fine with this one as well. Both are growing at the proper rate. Now if you're sure, I can tell you the sex of your babies."

Suddenly Kate found that she really didn't want to know. "Actually.." She said uncertainly. "I don't think I do want to know"

"Kate?" Rick questioned.

"I just realised that I really don't want to know." Kate replied.

"Ok then." Rick said, and then turned to the doctor. "OK, so we don't want to know, just tell me they're healthy."

"You have two very healthy babies growing there, they will be fine." She told them, then proceeded to clean up Kate and the equipment, and then left the couple to themselves.

Kate sat up on the table and drew Rick in for a hug and a light kiss. Kate drew back, leaning her forehead on his, both grinning like fools but neither able to find any words.

-!-!-!-

As Kate and Rick were walking back through the waiting area, neither of them noticed the person sitting in the corner, supposedly reading a magazine. They didn't notice the pair of eyes that peeked over the top of said magazine as they walked past, or that the person in question put down the magazine and followed them out. They didn't notice when they got off the elevator at the ground floor that the same person was in the lobby and followed them out and waited until their car arrived, subsequently following them all the way to the precinct.

-!-!-!-

As they walked out of the elevator on the homicide floor at the 12th, Kate noticed that neither of the boys were at their desks. She also noticed that the door to interrogation room one was closed. She motioned for Rick to follow her into the observation room to watch the interview.

What she wasn't expecting was to see Josh on the other side of the glass, apparently refusing to talk to the boys about what happened yesterday. But at the same time being very vocal about it, and getting violent, which wasn't helping his case.

"We just want to know why you decked Castle yesterday." Esposito said to him, standing with his back to them, leaning over the table at Josh.

"And, as I've already told you, I want to talk to Kate." He replied, anger filling his voice.

"And I'll tell you again," Esposito started. "She's not here, so if you're not going to cooperate we'll have to take you back down to lock up." He proceeded to round the table and yanked Josh up by the cuffs that were on his wrists.

Kate and Rick watched as Esposito lead him out of interrogation room one, and stayed put for a couple of minutes to give it time for Josh to be off of their floor.

When they walked out of the observation room Ryan and Esposito were sitting at their desks; Esposito running financials on Josh and his sister, whose murder they still had to solve, and Ryan looking into the ex-boyfriend that Josh had mentioned yesterday.

"Hey boys." Kate said as she walked up behind them.

"Hey boss." Ryan replied. "You just get here?"

"In time to see Esposito rip into Josh in there." She replied.

"Yeah, all he's saying is that he wants to speak to you." Esposito told her.

"Well," Montgomery said, coming up behind the group. "That's not going to happen. You go give him one more chance, Esposito, and if he wont talk to you, he's going to have to talk to me."

"Yes, sir." Esposito said.

"Off you go then." Montgomery told him. "I want this crinkle ironed out." At his words Esposito and Ryan jumped to their feet and made their way down to lock up.

After the boys and the captain had left, Kate collapsed into the nearest chair, which just so happened to be Ryan's. She looked at his computer and saw what he had found on one Jimmy Barlow, ex-boyfriend of Hannah Davidson. It seemed that in the two years that they had been together he had been charged with assault five times, by five different women, but that all charges had been dropped before they went to court. But that in the two months since they had broken up, he had been charged with assault twice more and that he was due in court in three days time. Also that Hannah was supposed to be a witness, for the prosecution.

Kate was just starting to tell Rick all of this when the boys stepped out of the elevator again and headed straight for Montgomery's office. She waited for them to come back out, and watched Montgomery storm past them and into the elevator before she said anything.

"So I guess he wouldn't talk." Kate said to them, they both shook their heads before she continued. "You guys need to hunt down the ex, Jimmy Barlow, he's got a rap sheet a mile long, is due in court in three days and Hannah was to be a witness against him. I also want you to look at the other witnesses for the prosecution, make sure they're ok."

"Yes Boss." Ryan and Esposito said in unison and grabbed their guns before heading out.

After they had left Rick helped Kate out of Ryan's chair and they made their way over to her desk. Rick sat in his chair with his laptop while Kate moved Barlow's photo from "person of interest" to "suspect" then sat at her own computer to continue looking into him.

-!-!-!-

_Meanwhile…_

Down in lockup Josh was sitting on his bench, leaning against the wall with one foot propped in front of him when Montgomery stormed down the row of cells towards him. He stopped outside Josh's cell and started talking.

"Doctor Davidson." Montgomery stated sternly. "I would like to know why you punched Mr Castle in face in the face yesterday."

"Hey," Josh responded. "Don't I have the right to an attorney?"

"You waived those rights, remember?" Montgomery asked.

"Oh yeah." Josh said dejectedly thinking about how he figured they would find out and come to his rescue, and then the fact that he waived his rights wouldn't matter. But they hadn't come to his rescue and he had to face the music by himself.

"Now, why did you punch Mr Castle yesterday?" Montgomery asked him again.

"Because Kate's pregnant." He mumbled.

"And..?" Montgomery said, encouraging him.

"She's so obviously with Castle." Josh was still mumbling.

"And…?"

"Well, either the baby is mine," Josh exploded. "Or she was screwing around with him behind my back."

"So what you're telling me," Montgomery stated calmly. "Is that somewhere in that deluded little mind of yours you think that baby is yours, or it is Castle's and Kate was cheating on you, yes?"

"Yes." Josh was mumbling again.

"So why punch Castle, not Beckett?"

"Because I could never hit a woman," Josh stated. "Especially a pregnant one."

"Nice to know you're a gentleman," Montgomery told him. "Women on the jury might like that." He finished before he started walking off.

"But how do you know that the baby isn't mine?" Josh yelled after him, earning him some stares from the other prisoners.

"Because it's her word over yours," Montgomery told him, glancing back. "And quite frankly, I'd believe her over you any day."

**AN:** One more thing, I only have one more chapter of this written and as I have the end of my school year coming up I might not have time to write much, so after the next chapter I don't know when the next one will be up. Another contributing factor could be the fact that my muse ran off while I was reading _Pride and Prejudice_ and started writing a different story, all of it's own free will, but I don't know where that one's going so it wont be posted for a while.

Anyway, hit the shinny little button down there and let me know what you think.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: here I am, posting this only one day after the previous chapter, without my critique having read it. There are three reasons for this: 1) My copy of **_**Heat Rises**_** arrived yesterday, 2) My copy of **_**Deadly Storm**_** also arrived yesterday, and 3) I have school work that needs doing (after I read aforementioned books) so you might not get much out of this story for a while…. Sorry :(**

**These aforementioned reasons are also the reason I haven't had the chance to reply to reviews, so here goes nothing. Massive shout out to ****PsychoticSax**** who only just started reading, and let me know just how much they loved every chapter! And many thanks to all those who reviewed, again I'm sorry I didn't get back to you personally :(**

**-Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 11**

When Esposito and Ryan arrived at the apartment of Danielle Smith, one of Barlow's assault victims, they heard arguing coming from inside. Two voices, one female, the other male, and the voices seemed to increase in volume.

Esposito nodded at Ryan and they both pulled their guns from their holsters. Esposito knocked on the door.

"NYPD." He announced and the arguing stopped but there was a scuffling sound from the other side of the door. "NYPD," Esposito shouted again. "Open the door." Still nothing but scuffling from the other side of the door, then they heard a strangled cry.

Esposito nodded at Ryan and then kicked the door in. Ryan followed him in yelling, "NYPD, hands in the air."

Esposito had his gun pointed at Barlow, who in turn had his gun trained on Danielle's head where she was lying on the floor, bleeding from her leg.

When Barlow realised that he had two guns trained on him, he turned his towards Ryan, pointing it straight at his head.

"Put down the gun, Barlow." Esposito said tentatively. "You've got nowhere to go." And Ryan starts to move his foot forward.

"Don't move." Barlow says. "You move and I'll shoot." He's starting coming out with psychobabble, his eyes locked on Ryan. Barlow was so intent on Ryan's figure that he didn't notice Esposito inching towards him until he knocked the gun out of his hands and pulled his hands behind his back.

Within minutes the place was a whirlwind of activity with other police officers and ambulance officers. After giving their statements Ryan and Esposito took their suspect back to the 12th.

-!-!-!-

Later that day Kate and Rick watched as Esposito and Ryan entered interrogation room one, where Barlow was waiting. Ryan leant against the window as Esposito walked towards the table, opening the file in his hand.

"This," He said, placing a picture on the table. "Is the gun we found you in possession of this morning. And this," He continued, placing another picture on the table. "Is the gun that we found in your apartment, which is the same calibre as the one used to kill Hannah Davidson. So tell me why'd you do it?"

He didn't answer, so Ryan started talking from his place leaning on the window. "So here's what I think. Somehow when you were with Hannah, mysteriously any and all charges against you were dropped, so it had something to do with her. But then she dumped you, she couldn't handle it anymore, so you were kicked to the curb."

"Then," Esposito says, picking up the narration. "You get charged with assault again, but this time it doesn't go away, and the prosecution has Hannah on their side. You need her to keep quite, and those other girls, needed to keep them quite as well."

"I didn't mean to kill her." Barlow yelled. "I only meant to scare her into not testifying, but she wouldn't back down, she kept telling me that her brother could get people onto me, and I knew he could." He was babbling, letting everything out. "He'd done it for me in the past. But I couldn't have her testifying at my case, any of them. I meant to fire the gun just to get her attention that I was serious, but she moved as fired it and I wasn't really looking what I was doing, and I shot her. I didn't mean to, I loved her."

"Good," Esposito said. "But backtrack, who are these 'people' that her brother could get onto you if you hurt her?"

"The Mob."

-!-!-!-

Kate stood, motionless as the officer led Barlow out of interrogation room one. She barely noticed when Rick wrapped his arms around her from behind or when the boys walked in, she just started thinking out loud.

"The Mob?" She said in a daze. "Josh has Mob connections?" Kate felt disgusted with herself. "I want to talk to him!" she exclaimed, trying to extract herself from Rick's arms to head towards the door. She didn't get anywhere though, as Rick wouldn't let her go and Ryan and Esposito were blocking the door.

"No can do Boss," Ryan said. "Montgomery is dealing with Josh, and we've already notified him."

"Fine." Kate said, dejectedly and stopped resisting Rick's hold.

Kate resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't to be questioning him and returned to her desk to fill in the paperwork on Barlow's case.

-!-!-!-

_Meanwhile…_

Montgomery stalked down to lockup and stopped outside Josh's cell.

"So you got Mob ties." He said.

"How?" Asked Josh. "and, why, would I have Mob ties?"

"Don't even try denying it." Montgomery told him. "Barlow told us that you hooked him up with someone from the Mob more than once."

"Fine," He said, not even trying to fight it anymore. "I got Mob ties, lots of them."

"How?" Is all Montgomery wanted to know.

Josh sighed. "I was working one day when one of the big guys came in, cardiac arrest. I operated on him and they paid me large amounts of money to keep quite, and I mean quite. No reports, no nothing. I was to let him out of the hospital as soon as I could and check in on him three times a day. I also became their general doctor. In return I had their loyalty for as long as I needed it, and their help."

Montgomery didn't say anymore, the boys would be able to get the rest out of him now. He gave one last disgusted look at Josh and walked away.

-!-!-!-

Ten minutes later the shady figure watching the 12th received a phone call and answered. Only three words were spoken.

"It is over."

The shady figure got into the dark coloured car and faded into the New York traffic.

**AN: to all those who asked about the shady figure, does this satisfy your curiosity? And for those who said Josh was up to something, does it now make sense?**

**Also, next up, Christmas is coming soon….. just one little problem…. While Rick has a gift for Kate, the same cannot be said vice versa…. Suggestions would be welcome… as would reviews… :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: This chapter comes to you a lot soon than I would have thought, I had a fit of inspiration the other day, so I started writing, and this was the end product… a little bit of Caskett loving.**

**Shout out to all those who review, apologies for not replying, I had a lot on my plate last week. I was reading **_**Heat Rises**_** (anyone else read it yet? What'd think?), dealing with end of school year stuff (which included formal last Friday) and studying for exams….. Barely know how I found time to write this even.**

**Anyway, I'm rambling…**

**-Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 12**

It was the Monday before Christmas, the Captain had given Kate and her team the following two weeks off, and Kate had finally convinced Rick to let her go shopping by herself, well sort of. She was shopping with Lanie, trying to find a present for a Rick but she had no idea what to get him, she was just hoping something would take her fancy for his bigger present.

Kate already knew what she was getting to fill his stocking with, silly things she knew he would like, also things that had better not be opened in the presence of his daughter. She also needed to find a small tree for his bedside table.

After a couple of hours shopping, and still no closer to finding a present for Rick, Kate and Lanie sat down for lunch. Kate's feet were killing; if she had any choice in the matter she would never be this far pregnant at Christmas again.

"Come on Lanie," Kate said to her friend after they had finished their lunch. "I need to find something for Rick."

After a couple more hours of shopping Kate was no closer to finding a present for Rick and she was starting to get frustrated. She had never had this kind of trouble finding a present for someone, but then she had never been pregnant and shopping for a present for the father of her children before.

They were walking through shops that Lanie could have sworn they had already been in that day but she daren't say anything to her friend, she didn't want to be on the end of a hormonal Kate. So they continued on and Lanie didn't complain.

Kate had been on her feet most of the day and at 2 o'clock she just wanted to give up, then finally she saw it. She was just telling Lanie that it was the last shop they were going into that day, no matter what. She was walking through the shop dejectedly when she saw it. It was as if the clouds parted and a ray of sun light shone down on it. It was perfect; Rick would love it, but it was expensive. Though she consoled herself with the fact that she was no longer spending her pay-checks on much since she had moved in with Rick.

She selected the item, took it up to the counter and paid for it. She then pulled out her phone to call for her driver; it was time to head home.

-!-!-!-

When she arrived back at the loft Kate managed to get Rick's present past him, up to their room and into her gun safe before he even knew that she was home. She was proud of herself; she knew he would like it. She suddenly recalled that he had been pining over the very item for the past five or six weeks, and even more recently in the week that had just past.

Kate had just locked her safe, and was struggling to stand up, when Rick wondered into their room.

"Kate." He exclaimed. "You're home. When did you get home? Did you find everything? Did you get me a present?" Rick asked in a torrent of words, holding his hand out to help her.

"Slowdown, Rick" Kate said, taking his hand to steady herself. "Yes, I'm home, I've only be back for about five minutes, and I didn't tell you because I was hiding your presents, and if you try and find them I will shoot you." She glared. "So yes, I did find everything and get you a present, and a tree." Kate paused slightly before asking, "Did you find me a present?"

"Of course I've got you a present," He told her. "I've had it for weeks." He said then noticed the unpacked bags. "What's in there?" He asked.

Kate walked over to the bags, rummaged in them for a minute and pulled something out. She walked over to Rick, as gracefully as she could with one hand behind her back. "Decorations." Was all she said, pulling the hand from behind her back above their heads, revealing the sprig of mistletoe that was in it, and leaning in for a kiss.

Rick responded eagerly, wrapping his arms around her and leading her back to their bed. He gently lowered her down, lying down to the side of her, kissing her the entire time. Somewhere along the way she had dropped the mistletoe and started to unbutton his shirt. Rick slowly ran his hands under her top and over her growing belly, and pulled her top up the rest of the way and over her head.

Kate had just push Rick gently onto his back and straddle his legs when two things happened simultaneously; the first being that one, or both, of the children started kicking madly, the second being that the front door of the loft slammed. Kate and Rick were shocked out of there heated moment by a voice, yelling.

"Dad?" They heard Alexis call. "Kate? Are you guys home?"

"We are Pumpkin." Rick called, gently helping Kate off his lap and buttoning his shirt back up, while Kate put hers back on. "We're in our room."

"Is it safe?" Alexis asked, her voice closer than it was before.

"Yes, sweetie, it is." Kate called back squatting to pickup the mistletoe off of the floor. She was just standing as a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in," Kate said, and continued when the door opened. "I was just showing your father the decorations I got today." She finished, holding up the mistletoe in her hand.

"Ew, ew, ew." Alexis squealed. "At least keep it G rated while I'm here."

"What are you doing here?" Rick asked his daughter. "It's Monday and it not yet three."

"Uh, Dad," Alexis replied. "It is the week before Christmas. No school. Duh."

"Oh yeah." Rick replied, and that was that, they left the master bedroom to start decorating the loft.

-!-!-!-

Three hours later the loft was looking quite the sight. They had decorated the loft and it was a success. Well Rick had decorated the loft, Alexis had decorated the tree and Kate had supervised. But it was now well after dinnertime and Kate was hungry, though she couldn't decide between Chinese and pizza, so Rick ordered both.

They had a fairly easy meal, other than Rick and Alexis having to contain themselves when Kate put sweet and sour pork on her cheese pizza. They had learnt months earlier not to comment on the way Kate ate her food, as she got very touchy about those sorts of things.

After finishing dinner, watching _The Santa Clause_, and promising that they would watch the other two in the following nights, Rick and Kate made their way, slowly, up the stairs to their room.

When she had changed into one of Rick's shirts, Kate waddled over to the bed, where Rick was already sitting, with a lone piece of mistletoe in her hand. She carefully crawled across the bed to rick and playfully dangled it above his head until he looked up.

"You remember what happened earlier," Rick said. "Don't you?"

"Yes," She responded coyly. "And I would like it to happen again, only I would like to finish it this time. No interruptions." Kate finished, her lips only a hairsbreadth away from his.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Rick asked her, gently brushing his lips against hers.

"Maybe once or twice." She replied before kissing him soundly and straddling his lap. She brought her hands to the side of his face and started to run them through his hair. Kate felt Rick run his hands down over her belly and started to unbutton the shirt that she wore.

Kate's hands left Ricks hair as he pushed the shirt down her arms and his hands sought out, found, and gently caressed her overly sensitive breasts. Kate's hands found the hem of Rick's t-shirt and started slowly pushing it upward. His hands left his breasts, and their lips parted for long enough for her to pull his t-shirt off, and discard it somewhere.

Her lips quickly found his again as her hands sought to become reacquainted with his chest. Their lips didn't stay together long as Rick started to trail his down her neck, while his hands continued to caress her breasts.

Kate was soon moaning heavily and her hands travelled downward, dipping inside Rick's boxers. His lips suddenly left their place at the top of her breasts, his head fell back to the headboard and he let out a moan. As Kate started pushing his boxers down his legs, Rick's hands moved down her body, over her belly and found that all that was between them was _his_ boxers. He squirmed to move his boxers further down his legs and kicked them off his feet.

Kate raised herself onto her knees and took his shaft into her hand, pumping it twice before lowering herself onto it. Both let out hearty moans and Kate started to move her body above Rick's. His left hand made its way to her hip, and his right started roaming across her belly, the hand on her hip helping her movements until she started moaning his name.

"Rick," She moaned. "Please.."

Rick's right hand moved downward from her belly to her most sensitive area. His fingers brushed over her and she screamed out his name. he followed not far behind her, pressing his mouth to hers.

After coming down from their communal high, Kate slide out of Ricks lap and snuggled down into the bed on her side. Rick soon followed and wrapped his arms around her from behind. The pair fell into a peaceful slumber.

-!-!-!-

Down the hall Alexis took the headphone out of her ear for the fourth time in ten minutes and she heard nothing. She knew she would finally be able to turn her music off and get some sleep.

**AN: So the next chapter is Christmas…. Should be fun. Let me know what you think.. :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Ok so I know this ones really short, but it popped into my head the other day and I thought it would be the sort of thing that Castle would do. Sorry I lied; Christmas will be in the next chapter.**

**As always thanks to those who read and review, and to the new readers I still have coming in, it all helps me keep going.**

**-Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 13**

"_T'was the night before Christmas in the Castle abode_," Rick started, and Alexis joined in.

"_Not a creature was sleeping, not even the toad._

_No stockings were hung, not a chimney in sight,_

_Everyone knew they were in for a very long night._"

Kate was not surprised that Rick had his own version of the Christmas rhyme. Just as she was thinking this Rick pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket with a flourish and continued reading by himself.

"_Presents to be wrapped, tape to be absconded, _

_For everyone knows paper needs to be bonded._

_Then under the tree presents would go,_

_And out of the window I looked for snow._

_Then after a time I turned back around,_

_Because out of the kitchen I heard such a sound._

_Of squealing and giggles, and laughter too,_

_I see three wonderful women where there used to be two._

_I hurry to them, to give them a hug, _

_And in all my haste, trip over a rug._

_When I finally look up from my place of the floor,_

_It's into the eyes of the woman I adore._

_She's standing there with an outstretched hand,_

_And a smile on her face I cannot withstand."_

Alexis and Martha both silently stand and make their way out of the room, per Rick's earlier request.

"_My hand in hers I rose to my feet,_

_And lead her to the lounge to take a seat._

_I could only imagine just how she feels,_

_As for quite a few months she hasn't seen her heels._

"_Like a whale," she says, more often than not, _

_And I tell her she's beautiful otherwise I'll get shot._

_But it's not something I say just off on a whim,_

_She always looks beautiful, even when she's not slim._

_She carries my children; it's a wonderful sight,_

_All because of how she walked into my life one fateful night._

_And since then it hasn't been all peachy keen,_

_I'm sure there are times she's wanted to split my spleen._

_Ups and downs, we've been through them all,_

_From freezer to bomb, to safe in the wall._

_All of this rhyming to get to a question, _

_That I hope will leave a lasting impression._

_The Beckett I met is now known as Kate,_

_And it is her turn to decide on our fate._"

Rick put down the piece of paper and reached into his pocket.

"_I'm hoping with might that she won't make me plea,_

_Katherine Beckett, will you marry me?_"

**AN: is it evil to leave it hanging like that? Sorry if it is… there will be Christmas in the next chapter, I hope.**

**I also have no claims to owning the original 'T'was the night before Christmas', which I kind of based this poem off.**

**Let me know what you think of it!**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: first of all, thanks so much for all the reviews, they are all awesome! I've been inundated with work and school stuff, so this has been put to the back burner….**

**OK, time for some shout outs! (because I haven't had time to reply to reviews :D)**

**Bones dj**because you're reviewer number 100! Woot!**Iv2bnsb1** the Josh thing will return, and be resolved, eventually. **LouBird92****, ****MLN****, ****Googie****, ****gloriajv****, **I'm glad the poem was so well received. **wellwritten**, **docvap** I'm glad the proposal was Castle worthy, and that you enjoyed it. **And for everyone that I haven't mentioned, Thanks soo much, your reviews mean a great deal to me!**

**So without further ado… **

**-Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 14**

Kate was dumfounded.

The whole way through Rick reading his poem she was wondering if it was going anywhere, but she totally wasn't expecting this. Well eventually, but not yet. Kate had been so engrossed in his reading (she always had loved listening to him read, even before she knew him personally) that she hadn't noticed the rest of his family leave. She was just staring at Rick. First his eyes, so full of love and adoration, then down at the simple but elegant, and surely very expensive, diamond ring nestled in the blue box, then back up at his eyes, but she didn't say a word.

How does one respond to a proposal like that? Well the straightforward answer was 'yes', but that seem too simple after his proposal. It was big, the way Rick did everything of importance in his life, yet intimate, the way she had always imagined a proposal should be. Just thinking about this in the silence, a tear started to trickle down her face.

"Kate?" Rick asked, his voice coated in worry. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Kate replied, more tears making their way out of her eyes. "I was just trying to figure out the best way to answer a 'yes' to your question." She stated, a smile spreading across her face.

Rick had a dazed look on his face until his brain caught up with what Kate had said, at that point the smile that spread across his face could have cracked the polar ice cap. He pulled the delicate ring out of it's box, gently picked up her left hand from where it had been resting on her belly, and slid the ring onto the third finger, where it nestled against her hand.

He then placed a light kiss on her fingers, bent and placed a kiss on her belly, then straightened and captured her lips in a searing kiss. One hand on her cheek, the other behind her neck, it wasn't long before it turned into a full on make out session. That was until they were startled apart by a loud thump, and a muffled scream.

"Mother, Alexis." Rick said, as he knew what had happened. "You can come back now," They immediately appeared. "And which one of you fell down the stairs?" He asked in a board voice.

"I did." Alexis admitted sheepishly, and then turned to Kate. "So?" She asked excitedly. In response Kate help up her left hand to show off her newly acquired ring and was almost immediately engulfed in a big, abet gentle, Castle hug.

_Dam these hormones_, Kate thought as tears started, relentlessly, streaming down her face. She was happy, happier than she had been in a long while.

"Ok, girls, break it up." Rick said after a few minutes. "Coz I need to take my fiancé to bed."

"Eww, Dad!" Alexis exclaimed. "Don't want, or _need_, to hear that!" She finished, shaking her head.

Rick opened and closed his mouth a few times before he could speak again. "That is _not_ what I meant. It's just that it's getting late, and we've got a big day tomorrow, so we should be getting to bed."

"Yeah ok," Alexis said, and then added. "'Night Dad, 'night Kate, 'night Grams." Before giving each a kiss on the cheek and heading up the stairs.

Martha followed suit. "Goodnight Richard, goodnight Kate. Congratulations." She said before heading up the stairs also.

"Let's get you up to bed Miss Beckett." Rick said to her, offering his hand to help her off the couch and they ascended the stairs to their room to ready themselves for bed.

"Goodnight Rick." Kate said sleepily ten minutes later as she snuggled her back into his front.

"Goodnight Miss Beckett." Rick replied, and then mumbled. "Might be one of the last times I can call you that."

"If you even think," Kate started. "That we are getting married before I give birth to your children, you have another thing coming."

-!-!-!-

When Kate woke on Christmas morning it was because Rick was placing small kisses along the back of her neck. She cracked one eye open and noticed that there was snow outside the bedroom window and smiled. It had been quite a while since she had woken up to a white Christmas; in fact there she hadn't seen a white Christmas since the one before her mother was killed. Kate then noticed the diamond ring on her finger and her smile widened; she was taking the snow as a good omen.

Kate turned her head and met Rick's lips with her own in a slow, languid kiss. "Good morning." She breathed when they pulled apart for air.

"Good morning." Rick responded. "Merry Christmas." He said before meeting her lips in another kiss. They were interrupted by a knock on their door.

"Dad? Kate?" Alexis called through the door.

"Come in Sweetie." Kate called and relaxed back into Rick's arms.

The door opened and Alexis entered carrying a tray of hot chocolates for them. "Merry Christmas." She said as she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "I have hot chocolate," Alexis said. "And marshmallows." She added with a twinkle in her eye.

"Thankyou Alexis," Kate said, sitting herself up in the bed before accepting her cup. "But I'll hold on the marshmallows, thanks."

Ten minutes later Martha made her entrance into Kate and Rick's bedroom. "Come now Alexis, we need to get the place ready, we need to get ourselves ready," She said, and then her voice turned to a stage whisper. "And we need to give these two time to get ready." Her voice went back to normal. "Guests arrive in an hour and a half, and everyone needs to be ready."

-!-!-!-

Kate stood in her and Rick's room looking at herself in the full-length mirror. She was wearing a simple dark emerald green dress with a square neckline, sleeves just below the elbow and hem just below the knee. Her flat black shoes and diamond ring set off the look. She was just brushing out her hair as Rick walked in.

"Kate you look stunning." He told her.

"You don't look to shabby yourself, Rick." She said back.

Rick walked in front of Kate holding out a slim, wrapped box. "Present." He said by way of explanation.

"Rick you already gave me a present." Kate told him, holding up her left hand.

"That was an opportunity that arose," Rick said. "This is your present." He said holding out the wrapped box.

"Fine." Kate said, taking the box, as she always knew she would. She carefully peeled the tape and wrapping off to uncover a slim blue box. Kate opened the box to find a sliver chain with a pendant on it of two entwined hearts. "Oh, Rick." She said holding the box out so he could put the necklace around her neck.

"Come, let's go down for lunch." Rick said, placing a light kiss on her lips.

-!-!-!-

As the pair got to the bottom of the stairs Rick took Kate's left hand in his right and looked out at the people milling around their living area; their closest friends and family. Lanie and Esposito, Ryan and Jenny, Captain and Mrs Montgomery. Alexis, Martha and Jim rounded off the group who were gathered for Christmas lunch.

Rick led Kate over to the kitchen counter and picked up a glass and, letting go of Kate's hand, clinked a spoon on the side of it to get the attention of everyone in the room.

"Firstly," Rick began. "I would like to thank you all for coming today, I know how busy a day it is." He paused slightly. "Secondly," Rick continued, taking Kate's hand again. "Kate and I have some news." He paused again. "We are, at some point in the future, getting married."

Suddenly Kate was engulfed in a Lanie shaped hug, along with the words, "Why didn't you tell me girl." Lanie then grabbed her left hand and inspected her ring at great length.

Kate received congratulations from everyone, after Lanie let go of her hand. The last person who came to her was her father, who also engulfed her in a hug.

"Your mother would be proud." Jim whispered in his daughter's ear.

"I miss her," Kate whispered back. "I wish she was here."

"Me too, Katie." Jim said. "Me too."

They were pulled out of their embrace by Martha's voice. "Lunch is served."

**AN: So here's the start of Christmas at least. Next up, I'm going to skip over lunch and go to evening and more present giving. Kate's present for Rick, and stockings…**

**Anywho, let me know what you think :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: so this chapter has been a little while coming, it got backburnered for a while when I was getting some of my school work done… but I only have four weeks left! :D this chapter was also really hard for me to write, I didn't really know where it was going, and it never really presented itself to me, so I struggled a lot.**

**just a little repost as it was brought to my attention that I misspelled a few things…**

Big shout out to**Maddygirl76** because you were the 200th person to put this story on story alert.

**Without further ado, here's the end of the Christmas.**

**-Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 15**

Later Christmas afternoon, after all of their guests had left, Kate had woken from her nap and was starting to think about getting out of bed when Rick walked into the room and, after checking if she was awake, started asking her about presents. Kate couldn't help but laugh when Rick grabbed both of their stockings off the mantle and started looking around for where his present might be.

After watching him for a couple of minutes Kate spoke. "Help me up," She said. "And I'll go get your present." After Rick helped her up she made her way over to her gun safe to get his present from where she had left it earlier in the week. She then made her way back to the bed, sat down and patted the spot next to her so Rick would join her.

When Rick was sitting next to her she handed over his present. Like any small child he shook the box to see how much it weighed and if it rattled. It didn't. He then ripped into the paper with an enthusiasm that she hadn't seen in anyone in a while. When he got the paper off, and had thrown it to one side, he just sat and looked at it.

It was just what he wanted and he'd been hinting at it for weeks, to everyone but Kate. Despite the fact that he wanted one he hadn't got himself one, as he wasn't stupid enough to buy himself something like that in the weeks before Christmas, and if no one got him one he would have just gotten one in the new year, but now he didn't need to.

"Rick?" Kate asked. "Did I get it right?"

"Yes," He replied absentmindedly. "How… How did you know? I never said anything to you about this."

"Well," Kate told him. "I am a detective." She finished with a coy smile on her face. "I can figure things out. But you like it, right?"

"Yes, of course I like it." He told her, placing a light kiss on her lips. "It's just what I need, you know I've been complaining for the last couple of weeks about my laptop and sending every single drafting idea to Gina and Paula. But I never told you which one I wanted, how did you know."

"As I said." Kate told him. "I am a detective." She said and leaned in for another kiss. Rick gently placed his new laptop to the side and placed one had to the side of her face, deepening their kiss.

When the need for air became apparent Kate pulled back and rested her forehead on Rick's. "Stockings." She said once she had caught her breath and watched as Rick's face lit like the tree in their lounge room.

Rick grabbed his stocking from on the bed behind him and peeked inside. Kate smiled, he was acting like the big kid he was. She watched as he pulled a rolled up parchment out first.

"That one's from the Captain and the boys." She told him.

Rick slid the band off and unrolled it, smiling as he read. It was a 'Junior NYPD Detective' certificate, only someone had crossed out 'Junior' and replaced it with 'Honorary' and added 'Homicide'. "_Richard Egdar Castle._" Rick read. "_Honorary NYPD Homicide Detective. 12__th__ Precinct._" He then pulled a plastic badge, a Sherlock Holmes hat, a magnifying glass and a … "Water pistol?" Rick asked, and then put his hand back again only to encounter what felt like the contents of quite a few bonbons, streamers and all.

After pulling out two handfuls of the stuff Rick was surprised that Kate had had the time to pack a stocking as such, and it was with that thought that he proceeded to tip the stocking end up so that there was a pile of streamers and little plastic figurines on the bed between the two. He was somewhat disappointed to see that nothing had fallen out on top. So, not one to be outdone, he reached his hand into the pile and moved it around until he came into contact with something solid. When he pulled his hand out he was holding a set of black satin covered handcuffs. He dangled them off his finger and raised one eyebrow before placing them with the rest of his gifts and handing Kate her stocking.

Kate first prodded her stocking up and down, it seemed that Rick hadn't stuffed hers as she had done with his, except for a small space in the middle that was soft and squishy. Kate opened her stocking and peered inside. She first pulled out a couple of notebooks that were defiantly not appropriate for use at work. There was also an assortment of writing implements, including what seemed to be the keys off of an old-fashioned typewriter. With all these sitting on the bed Kate delved into her stocking again.

This time she retrieved two identical white onesies with the words 'Been in nine months, out on good behaviour' written across the front of them. She held one up, just looking at it, her children would look adorable wearing the onesies, but oh the levels of irony they had. After placing them on the bed she pulled the last thing out of her stocking.

A pair of cuffs, identical to the ones she had given Rick.

Raising her eyes to look at his face she saw a sheepish expression. "Great minds think alike?" He said playfully.

She just shook her head, rolled her eyes and started to gather her presents from the bed, and telling him that he should do the same.

-!-!-!-

Later that night, after a quite dinner with Kate and Alexis, Rick cleaned up the kitchen and went to join his fiancé in their bedroom, only to find it vacated. He looked into the bathroom, only to find it empty as well. He walked back out into the bedroom and spun a few slow circles until he caught sight of something shiny in the entrance of their walk-in robe.

Rick stared as Kate walked out of their walk-in robe dressed in a black nightie that hung to mid-thigh, and her police hat, dangling a set of black satin cuffs off one finger.

"Mister Castle," She said in a sultry voice.

"Yes, Detective Beckett?" Rick asked, lust filling his voice.

-!-!-!-

**AN: so one little note, those onesies that were in Kate's stocking are actually real, my sister (who has a three month old child) has one, it is the cutest thing, I thought of this fic when I saw it.**

**I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up as I'm bogged down with school work still, but the Josh thing will come back and be resolved (within a couple of chapters).**

**Let me know what you think. :D**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: OK so it's been what, two weeks, since I've updated this, sorry but life got in the way. But I was writing this instead of doing my Physics work… not to sure that was an amazing idea, but hey, what can I say? This chapter wanted to be written, and it's the longest chapter I've written, hopefully it'll tide you over for a couple of weeks until all my school stuff is over…**

**Oh, and slight time jump again…**

**Anyway…**

**-Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 16**

It was the middle of February, Kate was due in two weeks and she was starting to feel like the side of a house. She pulled herself out of bed and dressed slowly; it was her last day at work before she went on maternity leave. As Kate sat in the walk-in robe awkwardly pulling on her flats she looked longingly at the power heals she had given up months before, she was looking forward to the day she could wear those again.

As she walking into the precinct at nine that Friday morning (as she had been forbidden to be there any earlier) with Rick at her side it was eerily quite. So quite that she suspected something, though her baby crazed mind could figure out what.

The boys were sitting at their desks filling out paperwork and both offered a "Good morning Beckett, Castle" as they walked past. Kate mumbled a greeting back at them and made her way to her desk. Rick helped her with her jacket and into her chair, which she had given up complaining about. She pulled into her corner desk, which had been there after Christmas and she had to admit was easier to use, and started the long process of tying up loose ends before she was out of the office for six months.

By the time lunch rolled around she was finished with her paperwork. She stood slowly and, after glaring at Rick so he wouldn't follow her, made her way to the break room, any excuse to stretch her legs and move around. Kate wasn't really paying much attention to anything but the strain in her back until she heard Lanie call her name as she entered the break room. She faltered, what was Lanie doing up in their break room?

As Kate looked around she saw a smattering of streamers around the room, and not only was Lanie there, but also the boys, Captain Montgomery and some other officers who they worked with regularly.

"Lanie." Kate hissed, and the woman in question approached her with some trepidation. "I thought I said no parties!"

"No." Lanie replied coyly. "You said no baby shower, and this isn't a baby shower. This is a 'you're leaving us for a while' party."

"I'm not going to get out of this, am I?" Kate asked the room in general as she noticed the scatter of food on the table and discreetly placed gift bags around the room.

With the resounding "No" that she heard from around the room Kate made her way to sit down and noticed that Rick had followed her into the room, so she turned to him.

"You knew about this." She accused.

"Nope," Rick replied, his eyes wide as he noticed the layout of the break room. "I had no idea this was happening."

"Ok," Kate said sounding deflated, and then lowered her voice so that only Rick could hear. "But I'm not opening any presents."

"That's fine." Rick told her. "We'll just have lunch with everyone, collect all the presents and open them at home." They then moved towards the table and Rick pulled a chair out for her which was followed by a chorus of 'awww's from the female population of the room.

When lunch hour was over Montgomery stood and clapped his hands twice to get everyone's attention. "Lunch is over people, back to work." He said, and then turned his attention to Kate and Rick. "And Beckett you have my permission, no make it an order, to go home now and relax. Castle go with her and make sure she does."

"Yes, sir." They both said, and Kate continued addressing not only the captain, but also the boys and Lanie. "If not before hand I'll see you guys a week from Tuesday." And decided to continue after their confused looks. "You know, the hearing."

"Right." Montgomery said. "I'll be there, now go home." He finished as he headed back to his office. Kate was then enveloped in a hug from Lanie, patted on the shoulder by both Ryan and Esposito, after which Rick gather the presents as they made their to the elevator.

As the elevator doors opened Kate paused to look back across the bullpen, a tear in her eye. She was going to miss it, sure she'd be back, but she was still going to miss it. Rick cleared his throat from inside the elevator and Kate stepped inside. She turned and watched as the doors closed and the bullpen was removed from her sight. This really was the start of the rest of her life.

-!-!-!-

The following week was a week full of complaints from Kate. Her back hurt, her feet hurt and her ankles were swollen. Not only were her ankles swollen but so were her fingers, so much so that she had to take off her engagement ring and hang it around her neck. She was sick of 'relaxing', she was sick of Rick letting her do practically nothing. She was sick of being pregnant.

In the past week she had gone through the double sets of everything baby related. She had repacked her hospital bag three times and she had watched Rick assemble two cribs. By Monday she was actually looking forward to their day in court the following day. What was happening to her? She never looked forward to court.

-!-!-!-

Kate was leaning heavily on Rick as they made there way through the courthouse and encountered Judge Markway.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked them.

"We're here for the Davidson case." Kate told him.

"Ah, yes, that one did cross my desk, but for obvious reasons I had to pass it on." He told them. "Knowing most of the government's witness list is considered biased." He finished with a chuckle before bidding them farewell before they progressed to the courtroom.

Kate was just settling herself on one of the uncomfortable benches outside the courtroom door when Ms Ashlee Wright, government lawyer, walked up to them, followed closely by Dr Witherby. Kate started to stand before Ms Wright waved her off, and put down her briefcase.

"Ms Beckett," she said. "It's fine, please stay seated, when are you due?"

"It's Detective Beckett," Kate told the woman. "And Friday." She finished, absentmindedly rubbing her swollen belly.

"Congratulations." Ms Wright said, and then turned business. "Mr Castle, you'll be up first. Followed by Detective Beckett. Then Detectives Ryan and Esposito, respectfully. Then Dr Witherby, you'll be up last. Any questions?" She asked. Everyone present shook their heads, Ms Wright continued. "I'm saying this just as a formality, but you have to stay out side of the courtroom before you testify." She picked up her briefcase and headed for the door, she stopped before she entered and said, "The bailiff should call you in about fifteen minutes Mr Castle."

Captain Montgomery walked up and greeted them just as the courtroom door was closing behind Ms Wright. He was introduced to Dr Witherby and the group made polite conversation for about ten minutes before the bailiff made his way out of the courtroom.

"Mr Castle?" He asked, and continued when he had Rick's attention. "You're up. Follow me please." Rick stood, squeezed Kate's hand slightly and followed the bailiff into the courtroom.

The twenty minutes that Rick was gone felt like an age to Kate. She started fretting as soon as the doors had closed behind the two men. When this became obvious Lanie and Dr Wetherby both took a seat, one either side of Kate, reminding her that stress wouldn't be good for her or the babies; a fact that Dr Witherby had been trying to get her to understand for weeks. Finally the Bailiff appeared again.

"Detective Beckett. Follow me please." He said before turning back towards the door.

Kate stood slowly, with the help of Lanie and Dr Witherby and started her slow waddle towards the doors then down the isle of the courtroom, smiling slightly at Rick as she passed him.

Kate made her way to stand in front of the witness stand, as she had so many times before, and turned to face Ms Wright, awaiting her instruction.

"Raise your right hand." Ms Wright told her and Kate did as she was told. "Do you sware to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

"I do." Kate replied.

"Please take a seat." Ms Wright told her, and Kate slowly made her way to the witness seat.

"Detective Beckett." Ms Wright started once Kate was seated. "Can you please describe to the court the altercation between the accused and Mr Castle on the 12th of December."

"Sure." Kate began. "Mr Castle and I were at the precinct. I had been putting the first pieces of information that Detectives Esposito and Ryan had given me onto the murder board. They had just come back from the crime scene, brother of the victim in tow, although I didn't even know who it was until they were headed back to the elevator to show him out."

"And who was the brother of the victim Detective Beckett?" Ms Wright asked.

"Dr Davidson." Kate stated.

"Please continue." Mr Wright said.

"As I was saying, I didn't know who the brother of the victim was until they were leaving. I was sitting at my desk and just happened to look up when they walked past and was shocked that they hadn't told me who was coming in."

"Why is that?" Ms Wright asked.

"Because I was previously in a relationship with Dr Davidson." Kate stated.

"Continue."

"As soon as I noticed who it was," Kate continued. "I called Detective Esposito over to me and we had a hurried discussion, until I became slightly hysterical and stood from my chair. It was at this point that Dr Davidson noticed that I was there at that I was pregnant."

"How far along were you then?"

"About six months." Kate replied, and continued when Ms Wright nodded her head at her. "Then Dr Davidson noticed Mr Castle, who was standing right behind me, place his hand on my arm and before I could really comprehend what was happening Dr Davidson had punched Mr Castle in the face."

"And then what happened Detective Beckett?" Ms Wright asked.

"Detective Esposito grabbed hold of him and hauled him away," Kate told the court. "But after that I'm not really sure as I was rather concerned for Mr Castle."

Ms Wright looked at Judge Blake, "No further questions Your Honour."

"Mr Slain?" Judge Blake asked.

"Thankyou Your Honour." Mr Slain, the defence attorney, said then stood from his chair. "Ms Beckett." He started, before Kate cut him off.

"It's Detective Beckett." She said to him.

"But you're not currently working, are you?" He asked.

"Objection." Ms Wright said, standing. "Relevance."

"I'll get there Your Honour." Mr Slain said.

"Overruled. Answer the question please." Judge Blake said.

"I'm on maternity leave." Kate said.

"So, Ms Beckett." Mr Slain said again. Kate was just opening her mouth to correct him again when Judge Blake intervened.

"Mr Slain." He said harshly. "You will treat the witness with the respect she requires, address her with the correct title, or you will no be permitted to question her."

"Yes Your Honour." Mr Slain replied, a glare evident in his eye when he continued. "_Detective_ Beckett, when did you find out you were pregnant?"

"Objection, relevance?" Ms Wright asked again.

"If you would let me get to it Your Honour." Mr Slain said.

"Overruled. Answer the question Detective." Judge Blake said.

"I found out I was pregnant in early August." Kate replied.

"And how far along were you at this point?" Mr Slain asked.

"About six weeks."

"And it is not true that you broke up with my client in late May, about six weeks before you found out you were pregnant?" Mr Slain said, doing the quick math in his head.

"Yes." Kate said tersely, she could see where this was going and she would shoot him down.

"So isn't it possibly that the baby you are carrying is my clients?" Mr Slain asked.

"No." Kate replied bluntly.

"_No?_" Mr Slain asked, clearly not the answer he was looking for.

"No." Kate said again in as formal a tone as she could muster. "It was at least three weeks before Dr Davidson and I broke up that we were last intimate." Kate finished.

"No further questions Your Honour." Mr Slain said, slightly dazed, his client has all but assured him that she was carrying his child, and yet she so bluntly told him that the baby wasn't his client's.

"You may step down Detective Beckett." Judge Blake said and Kate stepped down from the witness stand, making her way back out of the courtroom. As she passed him, Rick rose from his chair and followed her out, one hand at the small of her back.

-!-!-!-

Kate had been restless the whole time Esposito and Ryan had been inside the courtroom, she couldn't seem to keep still. The two came out after Ryan had testified and told them that a fifteen-minute recess had been called. Kate groaned, it seemed something was out to get her that day.

She kept pacing.

Dr Witherby was starting to get slightly worried, she could see all the signs that Kate was starting to go into labour, but Kate wasn't one that would believe her until her waters broke. soon enough the bailiff appeared again.

"Dr Witherby." He said. "Please follow me."

Dr Witherby started towards the courtroom door until she heard a voice. "I don't think that's gonna happen." Lanie said, and continued when Dr Witherby was looking at them. "Rachel, we need to get Kate to the hospital, her waters just broke."

**AN: and I know it's mean to leave a chapter like that, but it had to be done. So there will be one more chapter, then an epilogue, which I've had planed for a while…**

**Press the shiny button and let me know what you think! :D**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey Everybody! So because I sat my last exam today you lovely readers get another chapter! YAY. But I still have another week left at school until I'm all done :( **

**In response to ****lv2bnsb1**** who couldn't figure out what Beckett's pregnancy had to do with Josh's court case, here's a recap: **Josh sees Kate pregnant at the precinct. Josh punches Rick. We then found out in Josh's dark musings while he was behind bars, and when he spoke to Montgomery, that he was adamant that the 'child' was his. This was to become the basis of his case. Thus why Kate's pregnancy was part of the case. **Everyone slightly less confused? **

**Ok, on with the story… and Kate's labor…**

**-Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Chapter 17**

"_Rachel, we need to get Kate to the hospital, her waters just broke."_

Kate started her slow waddle towards the entrance of the court building with Rick at her side. She had barely been walking along for five minutes when, out of nowhere, a wheelchair appeared. She forcibly refused, like hell if anyone thought she would sit in a wheelchair. Lanie seemed to notice this as she just continued to walk behind her with it.

When she, finally, reached the entrance Kate was glad to see Murrey standing with the door of their town car open. She gently climbed in, followed closely by Rick, Lanie and Dr Witherby and they made their way to the hospital.

-!-!-!-

Kate's arrival at the hospital was relatively uneventful, since they had literally brought her doctor with them. She was admitted to a private room and she had to admit that being the fiancé of Richard Castle had its perks.

By the time five in the afternoon rolled around she had sent Lanie and the boys (who had followed in their car) home and was waiting anxiously for these babies to come.

Dr Witherby came in at seven for another check to see how things were going, and again told them that it was nowhere near time.

"Castle I sware." Kate said to him through gritted teeth. "If I deliver your children on the 29th of February, all hell will break loose! How does one explain to a child that they are only going to have an actual birthday every four years?"

"With my Castle charm?" Rick quipped.

"What are you using your 'Castle charm' for this time dad?" Alexis asked entering the room. "No, don't answer that. Kate how are you feeling?"

"Like a balloon that is just about to pop." Kate replied tersely. "But isn't ready to yet.

By nine o'clock that evening the contractions had started, but that was all. They were still way too far apart, and to short, to be of any use to Kate. Dr Wetherby's arrival in her room only confirmed that she wasn't even half way there yet.

By just before eleven Kate was lying in her bed, to exhausted to be anywhere else. She could sense Rick at her side, but couldn't feel his touch, of that she couldn't really blame him. After her outburst at him after being tod, yet again, that they didn't know how long it would take, even she would have been scared of herself.

Kate reached her hand out and placed it softly on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." She said. "It's just very overwhelming." She smiled softly. "I love you, Rick."

"I love you too." Rick replied, standing and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. Their moment was interrupted by Kate screaming as she was hit out of nowhere with her strongest contraction yet.

Rick immediately looked at the clock on the wall and smiled. "What are you smiling at?" Kate asked him once she had her breath back.

"That was your longest one." He replied.

"Well until they start getting closer together there's not much to smile about." She said tersely. Rick gently took her hand and resumed his place in the chair by her bedside, thinking that it would not be a good idea to put anything like what was happening in the next Nikki Heat book, or any book for that matter.

Rick was pulled out of his musings about his next book and another blood curdling scream. He stood, looked at the clock again and smiled. "They're closer together." He said when he saw the look of scathing in Kate's eyes, and rang the bell for the nurse.

"Yes?" The nurse questioned when she arrived.

"This contraction and the last," Rick said. "Were barely three minutes apart."

"I'll page your doctor." The nurse replied. "She'll be here soon." She finished before walking out.

Alexis walked into the room just after the nurse left. "What was she doing in here?" She questioned of the nurse.

"It's time." Rick replied. "She's paging the doctor now." He finished excitedly.

-!-!-!-

In the ten minutes it took for Dr Witherby to arrive Kate had had three more contractions, and they were getting closer together and longer very quickly. To Rick everything seemed to be going way to quickly, it was going to be over before he knew it. Very soon her was being handed a set of scrubs to dress in.

Kate was in a world of pain. Why had she decided that a drug free birth would be a wonderful thing? And where was Rick? He was supposed to be there with her. She called his name and instantly felt a hand in hers, a hand she knew very well. She looked over and that hand was attached to a set of blue scrubs. Her eyes widened.

"Kate?" She heard Dr Witherby say, and looked at her before her next contraction took over and she squeezed Rick's hand. It felt like the pain would never end, but finally it stated to subside enough to hear Dr Witherby call her name again and tell her that it was time to start pushing.

The pain took over again. Kate screamed bloody murder, gripped Rick's hand and pushed with all her might.

"I can't do this Rick." Kate said to him, and her vision was filled with his face.

"Of course you can." He said softly before she started screaming again.

She pushed again. Long and hard and room was filled the ear piercing cries of a newborn child. Rick looked up.

"A boy." Dr Witherby said, before handing the newborn to one of her staff.

A smile spread across Rick's face before he lent down to Kate. "We have a son." He told her and she beamed up at him. She laid her head back and noticed that their son, _their son_, was brought over so Rick could cut the cord. It was a beautiful sight, until the next contraction hit and she was reminded that she was going to have to do it all again.

As soon as the scream had passed her lips Rick's face was back in her vision and his hand back in hers. Kate's scream subsided and she was told to push again, and she did. It seemed to take forever but finally the sound of another cry could be heard and Kate collapsed against the bed again, noting somewhere in her brain that it was fifteen minutes before midnight. She was glad it was over.

"We have a daughter." Was the next coherent thing Kate heard out of Rick's mouth and she smiled. She paid no attention to what the doctor was doing she was watching her family. She _had_ a _family_. She watched as Rick followed the two nurses out of the room with their children.

Kate drifted to sleep with a smile on her face. She had a son. She had a daughter. At that moment her life couldn't get any better.

-!-!-!-

When Rick walked into the waiting room he found not only Alexis and Martha but Montgomery, Lanie and the boys as well. They all stood when they noticed he was there.

"Well?" Martha asked, pulling him out of his silence.

"A boy." Rick replied, "And a girl."

His announcement was met all round by hearty congratulations and Alexis' exclamation of "I always wanted a little sister". Rick also noticed that Lanie slyly made her way out of the waiting area.

Soon enough the noise died down and he relayed all the details to the group and they started to head home. Only after Montgomery had given the boys the following day off. Rick suddenly felt very lonely. He made his way back to Kate's room and noticed that she was asleep, so he made his way to the nursery and looked through the window at the only two cribs in the room.

Looking at the two sleeping babies, one with a pink blanket, one with blue, he noticed that their name cards hadn't been placed on their cribs yet and though about the amount of time he and Kate had spent talking about names. First names had to be special and second names had to sound good, not only when said with affection but when tacked onto the end of the first name (and in front of the last name when necessary) so that the child knew they were in trouble. Rick smiled at the memory of Kate standing in the nursery as he assembled furniture, sternly saying names to see how they sounded.

Rick focused again on the present as he noticed a nurse enter the room and place name cards on the cribs. He got a tear in his eye as he read the names.

Alexander David Castle and Joanna Abigail Castle.

It was finally real. He was a father again.

**So what'd you think? Did I do it justice? Are the names good? I had a couple of different ways this chapter could have panned out, but after telling my critique about one of them she said it would have been mean, so I didn't.**

**Anyway, there's just the epilogue left!**

**Drop me a line, let me know what you think. :D**


	18. Epilogue

**AN: So here's the epilogue, up sooner than I thought because I have basically all my school work done**

**-Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer **the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

**Epilogue **

_Two years later._

It was a bright, sunny Saturday morning in early June and Kate couldn't have been happier. She was sitting at the dresser in her and Rick's room looking out the window of their house as Lanie did her hair. When she turned her head she could see Alexis and Jenny in the reflection of the mirror, sitting on her bed discussing what nail polish colour would go best with their dresses. She knew that Martha had her hands full in the downstairs level of the Castle abode with not only two-year-olds Joanna and Alexander but also little Blake Ryan, who had just turned one, and Samantha Esposito, who would be having her first birthday in a month.

"Earth to Kate." Lanie said, effectively pulling Kate from thoughts of the children. "We need to get your makeup done and get you into that dress soon."

"Right. Sorry." Kate said absentmindedly turning her seat around. "My thoughts were elsewhere." She closed her eyes and let Lanie get to work.

Kate was just standing from her chair to get dressed when she saw two small whirls of colour run pass the door; one black, the other purple.

"Alexander David." Kate said, her Detective Beckett voice coming out. "Joanna Abigail." She continued as she walked to the door. When she looked out into the hall the two figures were making their way back towards her, heads hung, they were old enough to know they had done something wrong.

"Yes Mommy?" They both said as they were standing in front of her.

"How many times have Daddy and I told you," Kate started, back to her normal voice. "Not to run around in your good clothes?"

"Lots of times." Joanna said, turning her big eyes on her mother.

"That's right." Kate continued. "Now go back down to grandma and be good."

"OK Mommy." They both replied.

"Sorry Mommy." Alexander added before they went back down to Martha.

When Kate turned back around she saw all three women in their matching deep purple strapless knee length dresses and realised that she hadn't dressed yet.

"Come on girl." Lanie said. "We need to get you dressed." Kate nodded and walked over to her walk-in closet and pulled out her dress and shoes. After lying the dress on her bed she went into the bathroom to change her underwear, when she emerged Lanie was holding her stunning white dress out for her to wear.

It took all three of them to get the dress over her head without messing up her hair but when it was finally on she looked stunning.

"Kate!" Alexis exclaimed. "I know it's kind of late, but have you got your something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue?"

"Yes." Kate replied with a smile. "I'm wearing the same necklace my mother wore at her wedding and I'm the fifth person to wear it, it classifies as old. My dress is new, this lovely hair piece is Lanie's and as you've already seen, my underwear is blue."

"Oh good." Alexis replied, clearly relieved. "I was slightly worried." The other ladies laughed but all stopped when they heard the doorbell ring.

The door opened and closed and they heard the voice of Jim Beckett calling up the stairs. Kate checked herself in the mirror one last time and then made her way out of her room and down the stairs. She could see the tears in her father's eyes as she walked towards him.

"You look so much like your mother." He told her while giving her a gentle hug.

"Time to go everyone." Martha said loudly entering the room with two small children tagging along.

-!-!-!-

Rick was standing at the altar, fidgeting worse then he did when watched Kate do paperwork just after he had started shadowing her.

"Man," Esposito said, standing next to him, Ryan egging him on from his other side. "Why are you so nervous? You've done this twice before."

"Maybe so," Rick replied. "But never like this. This is it for me."

"I know the feeling." Esposito said, remembering himself and Lanie in Vegas just after she had found out she was pregnant, before they had even told anyone.

The three boys were brought out of their thoughts by the music starting. Rick looked on as his two youngest children walked down the isle; she holding a basket, he holding a cushion. Then as his eldest daughter, nearing twenty-one, walked down the isle after Jenny. He thought she looked way to grown up for his little girl, but another soon captured his attention.

He didn't even notice Lanie walking down the isle; one Katherine Beckett, looking more beautiful then he had ever seen her, held his attention. She seemed to glide towards him, her father next to her. Time moved too quickly and Kate was soon standing before him, her father kissing her cheek and placing her hand in his. The happy couple made their way to the altar and the priest began the ceremony.

-!-!-!-

As Jim Beckett sat in the front pew, an empty spot next to him; he missed his late wife terribly. He knew she would have approved, Rick was good for their daughter; he brought out a side in her that Jim hadn't seen in a long time.

As the ceremony progressed, Jim watched his daughter intently; she seemed to be glowing. He had the feeling she wasn't telling him something, but she would tell him in good time. He watched as his daughter pledged her life to the man that she loved, and he the same to her, and he saw the same love in her eyes that he saw in her mothers all those years ago when they were standing at that very altar.

Jim averted his eyes, but joined in the applause, as the priest told Rick that he could kiss his bride, and then announced them and Mr and Mrs Castle.

-!-!-!-

Hours later the reception was in full swing. Lanie and Esposito had made their speeches together, telling the crowd how everyone had known from day one that there had been something between the couple and how Rick had slowly, but surely, chipped away at her wall until it crumbled down. Lanie referred to Rick as 'Writer-Boy' ("Writer-Man!" Kate corrected her, to the crowds' amusement) and Esposito referred to Kate as 'Boss'. By the end of their speech the crowd was in fits of laughter.

As the first strains of Adele's _Make You Feel My Love_ played Rick stood from his seat and held out his hand. "Dance with me, Mrs Castle?" He asked. Kate stood and placed her hand in his as he led her out to the middle of the dance floor. There wasn't a dry eye in the place, everyone could see how much the song meant to the couple, but very few understood the extent of it.

As Rick started whispering the words in Kate's ear as he held her close, tears started to trickle down her face. The song came to an end and she kissed him soundly, when she pulled back and placed her forehead on his she felt a hand on her arm.

Kate turned to see her father holding his hand out to her. This started her dancing with so many people she thought it would never end. When she was finally partnered with her husband again they went to sit. They hadn't been seated very long when a familiar face approached them.

"May I dance with your wife, Rick?" Roy Montgomery asked.

"We both know you're better off asking her that, Roy." Rick replied.

"A dance, Kate?" Montgomery asked, holding out his hand.

"Certainly sir." Kate replied, took his and approached the dance floor.

"How many times," Montgomery said. "Do I need to tell you to call me 'Roy' now that I'm not your boss anymore."

"Sorry." Kate replied. "Force of habit." And they resumed their dance in comfortable silence.

Not long after the party started to die down and Rick and Kate made their exit, slightly disturbed but the cat calls that came from Esposito and Ryan.

Once they had got to their hotel room Kate became slightly nervous, she had some news for Rick, and hopefully he would take it slightly better than he had last time she'd told him something like this…

**AN: Ok I'm fully prepared to be bombarded with questions, that's why there will be a sequel, tentatively called 'Life With Twins' that should start appearing within the next couple of weeks. It will follow the story between the last chapter and the epilogue. So if there's anything you want to know, hit the little blue button and I will try and answer your question at some point in the sequel.**

**I also have a couple of other Castle fics in the woodworks that should all be posted before Christmas.**

**I hope you've enjoyed the journey that has been 'Just One Night' and are looking forward to 'Life With Twins'**

**- Emily :D**


	19. Author's Note

**Authors Note:**

**Here's just a little shout out to all those who have followed this story, the sequel (Life With Twins) is up, there are now two chapters. I hope everyone enjoys it!\**

**-Emily**


End file.
